Carson City officers recover 48 grams on meth, arrest four in drug trafficking bust

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office confiscated a total of 48 grams of methamphetamine Friday morning after a traffic stop led to surveillance of a Carson City apartment allegedly used as a drug house.

Deputies first found 24 grams of methamphetamine on 45-year-old William Hornbeck of Carson City after initiating a traffic stop near College Parkway and Carson Street. Hornbeck had been traveling on Carson Street swerving in and out of travel lanes, according to the arrest reports. After Hornbeck’s passenger gave deputies consent to search the vehicle, they found a “stash can” made from a soup can.

Hornbeck’s passenger told deputies he had bought the meth from a man at 3300 Imperial Way and they also received information from a confidential informant the apartment was allegedly used by Russell Friesen, 44, as a drug house to sell meth.

After conducting surveillance on the apartment, deputies applied for a search warrant believing there were drug sales going on in the apartment. At 12:07 a.m., four deputies attempted to enter the residence peacefully before using a ram to gain entry into the residence. Inside, they found two females, Christian Minter and Caitlyn Beattie, both 19 years old. Minter was reported to be half lying in a closet, where deputies found loaded syringes, multiple bags of methamphetamine, several electronic scales, pills packaged in bags and a small safe containing drug ledgers and $350 in cash. Officers estimated there was about 18 grams of methamphetamine in the residence, according to arrest reports.

The target of the investigation, Friesen, wasn’t in the residence at the time, however several bills and a citation addressed to the Imperial address had Friesen’s name on them.

Deputies issued an attempt to locate Friesen’s car, and it was spotted at 12:27 a.m., in the Comstock Casino parking lot.

Due to experience with persons involved in drug trafficking being dangerous, Deputy Morgan Tucker initiated a high risk stop and ordered Friesen out of the vehicle.

Friesen was semi uncooperative toward officers, according to the arrest report, failing to comply to several orders to get out of the car before surrendering to officers. As Tucker attempted to handcuff the suspect, Friesen swung around and attempted to punch Tucker twice before being wrestled to the ground by deputies. He was taken to the hospital, complaining of head pain, but was released with superficial abrasions.

Friesen was arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking, felony possession of methamphetamine, felony possession for sales, felony maintaining a drug house, felony possession of a prescription without a prescription and obstructing/resisting an officer with violence. Hornbeck was arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking methamphetamine, felony possession of a controlled substance, felony possession for sales, failure to appear traffic, two counts of other agency warrants and license suspended; Minter was arrested on suspicion of felony maintain a drug house, felony possession of a controlled substance, felony trafficking 14-28 grams, felony sell/transport/give controlled substance, felony conspiracy to traffic controlled substance, felony possession of prescription without a prescription and violation of pretrial supervision; Beattie was arrested on suspicion of felony maintaining a drug house, felony possession of a controlled substance, felony trafficking controlled substance 14-28 grams, felony sell/transport/give controlled substance, felony conspiracy to traffic controlled substance and felony possession of a prescription without a prescription.