On April 24, at around 8 a.m., officers received a call about a vehicle over an embankment on County Road 319 in Rifle.
When police arrived and investigated they found there was a windshield scraper that appeared to have pinned the gas petal down for someone to drive if off into the embankment, the arrest affidavit states.
Officers found that the vehicle belonged to an employee with the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office and he was said to be on vacation, the affidavit states.
The officers went to car owner’s residence around 30 minutes later and found the doors were unlocked and it appeared to be broken into.
When they went inside they observed the “gun room was rummaged through with stuff strewn about the floor,” the affidavit states.
The rest of the residence looked like it was rummaged through as well.
According to the affidavit , it appeared that the suspect used one of the windows to gain entry and access inside.
The home had cameras on the property and officers watched back the video footage.
At approximately 6:38 a.m., a white male approached the building and using distinct physical features police were able to identify him.
The video showed the suspect attempting to gain entry and eventually making entry into the north facing door, according to the arrest affidavit.
After speaking to the victim of the break-in, officers determined that just under $10,000 worth of items was taken from the home.
Police believed the suspect entered the property without permission and forced entry into the garage and the main residence by force through windows, according to the affidavit.
He then left the property in one of the owners’ vehicles where it was later found in a ditch in attempt to destroy or hide the evidence, the officer stated.
The suspect was charged with second-degree burglary and aggravated motor vehicle theft, among other charges.
Suspicious sighting ends with arrest
On May 1, a Rifle police officer was on a routine patrol at around 1 a.m. when she saw what appeared to be suspicious activity at the Kum & Go gas station in Rifle.
“The [two suspects] caught my attention because their behavior looked suspicious, I initially suspected a hand-to-hand drug transaction, “ she states in the arrest affidavit.
When the officer approached in her vehicle, the two suspects separated and returned to their vehicles.
One of the vehicles left the Kum & Go and made a U-Turn in front of the officer on Railroad Avenue. The officer pulled the vehicle over for not having a front license plate.
The driver’s door opened as the officer approached and she ordered the driver to shut it, he did not, so she did, the affidavit states.
The male driver, 46, did not have a driver’s license because he recently got a DUI in Blackhawk, the affidavit states.
The officer noticed an unopened can of beer in the vehicle. She asked the driver for proof of insurance and vehicle registration three times and he could not produce vehicle registration.
After briefly talking with the suspect outside the vehicle, the officer detained him.
She said the reason she detained him was for “being uncooperative and ignoring [her] requests to keep his hands out of his pockets for [her] safety,” states the affidavit.
The female passenger in the car said there was a bag of marijuana behind the passenger’s seat and that it was hers. The marijuana was not properly labeled for recreational use sales and later weighed 3.25 ounces, over the legal limit.
Officers searched her purse and found narcotics.
They then searched the vehicle and found drug paraphernalia.
The officer told the driver she found drugs in the vehicle, to which he responded that he “didn’t think there was that much in there,” states the affidavit.
She arrested him for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Upon being arrested he became very irate and called her racist.
