Transient arrested in alleged drug deal in Carson City

A 24-year-old transient was arrested Sunday in the 900 block of Woodside Drive on a felony count following a reported drug deal.

According to the man’s arrest report:

A deputy saw a woman pull into the parking lot of a convenience store. The woman looked at the deputy, then drove away, which the deputy thought was suspicious.

The deputy followed the woman and learned her registration was expired, then stopped her. The deputy saw a baggie on the floorboard on the driver’s side, then called for a drug-sniffing dog. He cited the woman for the registration issue.

During a search of the woman’s vehicle, the deputy saw text messages on her phone about buying “percs,” a street term for the narcotic Percocet. Another deputy found a baggie that appeared to contained the remnants of a crushed pill.

The woman admitted she was buying pills, and a deputy told her she wouldn’t be arrested if she’d go back into the market and meet the person who was selling her the pills. She agreed.

Two deputies set up surveillance near the store, and the woman parked in front of it. One of the deputies saw a man later identified as Michael Wesley Tiehm sit in her vehicle briefly, then leave. Another deputy detailed Tiehm in the parking lot, then found the $20 bill the woman had given him.

Tiehm said he’d sold the woman Tylenol and had “ripped her off.”

He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to violate the uniform Controlled Substances Act and sales of an imitation controlled substance. Total bail was set at $12,500.