Carson City Sheriff's Office K-9 Tarzan sits next to a drugs confiscated during a weekend drug bust.
The Carson City Sheriff’s Office is cracking down on Carson’s drug problem.
This past weekend, deputies made eight arrests on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance, seven for methamphetamines and one for heroin.
“Usually we don’t find (drugs) as frequently,” Deputy T.J. Boggan said. “That is the nature of the beast, it’s always out there and we just try to plug away until we get it. It is good to be getting it off the street.”
Boggan, along with Deputy Darin Riggin, helped arrest one dealer, Juan Morales on Friday around 11 p.m. He was arrested on suspicion of having 11 ounces of methamphetamine. Deputies were alerted to the residence after dispatchers received a call of a woman whispering “please help, please come,” Boggan said.
Deputies arrived at the house on Merrimac Way in Carson City where a woman told them her husband had been choking her because he was allegedly drunk and high, and she showed them where he kept a pill bottle filled with drugs, Boggan said. Boggan said the bottle was filled with drugs that looked like about two grams of methamphetamine wrapped in plastic bags and little orange pills. Morales denied he had the drugs, saying the pills were for sexual performance, Boggan said, but eventually he admitted to the methamphetamine in the bottle.
Boggan and Riggin received permission from the woman to search the rest of the house for drugs. Riggin searched the outside of the property with his K-9 partner and got a positive smell from a Rubbermaid container in a shed in the back, Boggan said.
Inside the container, was a similar substance as the pill bottle, but in a much larger quantity. They found Ziploc baggies that contained about an ounce of methamphetamine apiece, totaling about 11 ounces. Morales was taken to jail on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance, trafficking level 3, and domestic battery with strangulation. His bail was set at $57,500.
Deputies also busted Robert Hudson for trafficking 16.5 grams of heroin Monday morning, according to arrest reports. Hudson was originally found with three pieces of aluminum foil and a razor blade containing suspected heroin residue and a black torch lighter, however upon further search, deputies found two flashlights with baggies of heroin where the batteries should have been. According to arrest reports, the flashlights contained 37 balloons of heroin and Hudson was arrested on suspicion of trafficking narcotics 14-28 grams, felony possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bail was set at $43,500.
Another man was arrested after an inmate told deputies he was hiding drugs in his genital region. Matthew Patellos was arrested of suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia with another man, Christopher Kaecker after deputies initiated a traffic stop Sunday morning and allegedly found a scale and a glass pipe that had residue of methamphetamine, arrest reports said. Both men were taken to jail where Kaecker told deputies Patellos had a black vial stuffed in his genital region. Deputies strip-searched Patellos where they found the vial containing more methamphetamine, arrest reports said. Patellos was then arrested on trafficking charges in addition to the possession charges. His bail was set at $23,500. Kaecker’s bail was set at $3,575.
Sheriff Ken Furlong said they are not surprised with missing the drugs Patellos brought into the jail. Because deputies cannot perform unwarranted strip searches, they see prisoners use various orifices and other body parts to bring drugs into the jail.
“People will bring the drugs in,” Furlong said. “But when we catch ‘em, we really catch ‘em.
“Sadly there’s a lot of drug use in our community. But we are doing a great job on catching the drugs in this town, we are just getting them from all over.”
Six of the eight arrests for felony of possession of a controlled substance were made due to contributions of the K-9 drug dogs.
Follow reporter Taylor Pettaway on Twitter at @TaylorNVAppeal.