Intoxicated man gives car keys to stranger
On Jan. 9, shortly after midnight, a Glenwood Springs Police officer arrested a 28-year-old man near Taco Bell on Grand Avenue who was wanted on several charges.
According to the arrest affidavit, on Dec. 29, a male party reported having several items stolen from his vehicle, which was parked near the 800 block of Grand Avenue.
The missing items included a “Gucci wallet worth $350,” “Tom Ford sunglasses valued at $180,” $400 cash, as well as the man’s driver’s license and debit card.
The reporting party, who was intoxicated at the time, said he had given his car keys to a 28-year-old man, who he met for the first time that night.
According to the affidavit, the 28-year-old man attempted to get a room at a local hotel using cash and the driver’s license he allegedly took from the reporting party’s vehicle.
However, the hotel’s front desk clerk — who happened to be a friend of the man whose possessions were stolen — denied the 28-year-old man a room.
After confronting the man about fraudulently using his friend’s driver’s license, the 28-year-old man left the property but was arrested several days later in Glenwood Springs.
The suspect was booked into the Garfield County Jail where he was charged with first degree criminal trespass, theft, identity theft and criminal possession of a financial device.
Modelo and meth on money
On Jan. 11, at approximately 11:53 p.m., a Glenwood Springs Police officer observed two males in an Infiniti sedan in the Ninth Street parking garage.
“I know from my training and experience that people will drink alcohol and use drugs in their vehicles before going to the downtown bars,” the officer noted in the arrest affidavit.
Upon approaching the sedan, the officer noticed “open containers of Modelo beer within the vehicle.”
According to the affidavit, the officer also saw a $5 bill folded in half with “a white substance in the middle,” which later tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
The vehicle’s 23-year-old driver was arrested and booked into the Garfield County Jail for unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
Drugs in Rifle hotel room
On Jan. 12, a Garfield County Sheriff’s deputy and Rifle Police officer confronted a man staying at a Rifle hotel regarding a possible stolen vehicle.
According to the arrest affidavit, the vehicle’s owner said the people who had allegedly stolen his car were staying at a local hotel.
When law enforcement officers arrived on scene, they noticed the reported stolen vehicle bearing “fictitious Colorado license plates” and knocked on the corresponding hotel room’s door.
The room’s occupant — a 22-year-old man — was “deceptive during the interview,” according to the affidavit.
Additionally, the officers “in plain view” saw items commonly used for the consumption of illegal narcotics, including a large torch and a glass pipe.
The man allegedly told officers “he just wanted to sleep because he had not slept in two days.”
The officers recognized the man from multiple previous contacts and searched the room after receiving permission to do so from the suspect’s parole officer.
The search turned up “19.6 grams” of a substance, which tested presumptive positive for meth, as well as drug paraphernalia items.
The 22-year-old man was arrested and booked into the Garfield County Jail on several charges including: unlawful possession and distribution of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, violation of a protection order and reckless endangerment.