Crime Briefs: Heroin bust near Glenwood Springs
rsummerlin@postindependent.com
Three people were arrested Wednesday afternoon with heroin and other drugs just south of Glenwood Springs, according to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
Pulled over at Colorado 82 and Garfield County Road 115, authorities found the driver, a 26-year-old man, with about 3.8 grams of heroin and about half a gram of methamphetamine.
While questioning the driver, deputies suspected that two other people in the vehicle were concealing drugs.
The front-seat passenger, a 28-year-old woman, was found with a syringe believed to contain heroin.
In the woman’s purse they found a vial with Alprazolam pills, an anti-anxiety medication that is a schedule IV controlled substance.
And in the back of the vehicle was a 21-year-old Glenwood Springs man, whom a deputy knew to have been in several other encounters with the law.
In the center console was a spoon with a large amount of brown residue believed to be burnt heroin, according to the deputy’s report.
In the back seat, authorities found a container with 13 hypodermic needles, three of which contained a brown substance. Another plastic container held more needles, another spoon and more plastic baggies.
They also found a digital scale and three more small plastic baggies containing suspected methamphetamine.
The 21-year-old was arrested on three counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute and first-degree introduction of contraband, all felonies; and petty offense possession of drug paraphernalia.
The 26-year-old driver was arrested on charges including two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute, a felony.
The 28-year-old woman was arrested on charges including felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.
Family dispute turns threatening
Garfield County deputies were dispatched Jan. 6 to a home near Parachute, where a 34-year-old man reportedly was threatening to kill his 72-year-old father.
The older man reported that his son had kicked a hole in the wall at his home and smashed a dent into the refrigerator with a baseball bat.
The 34-year-old had shoved the older man, slapped him in the head and later threatened his father with the bat and a steel chain, the father reported.
A protection order already in place was supposed to protect the older man from his son.
The 34-year-old denied any harassment. He claimed the older man wasn’t even his father.
He was arrested on charges of menacing, a felony, along with harassment, criminal mischief and violating a restraining order, all misdemeanors.
Rifle officer stuck by syringe
A Rifle officer was banged up Wednesday afternoon and possibly stabbed by a syringe while trying to detain a 32-year-old man in Rifle.
Rifle officers were assisting a bail bondswoman to take a man into custody as she was revoking his bond. When the suspect learned that he was going back to jail, he tried to walk away. An officer grabbed his arm, and a struggle ensued.
One of the officer’s arms was hurt, and he received a puncture wound that may have been from syringes the man was carrying. Another officer’s wrist was lacerated.
After finally detaining the man, officers found several plastic bags and suspected methamphetamine. In his pockets officers also found syringes loaded with a liquid substance.
The suspect was transported to Grand River Health for injuries he sustained from the scuffle.
He was arrested on charges of distribution of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of second-degree assault, all felonies; and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
EX-BOYFRIEND ARRESTED IN Menacing cASE
A 25-year-old Parachute man involved in a December case was arrested Thursday on felony menacing.
The case began Dec. 2 when Garfield County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home near Parachute, where a woman reported that two men had broken into her home and attacked her grandson. A 25-year-old man whose head was bloodied and bruised said his ex-girlfriend’s brother and another man had beaten him.
He had a 1-inch cut on his scalp, a black eye and a knot on the side of his face, according to a sheriff’s report.
He believed the two attacked him because his ex-girlfriend told them he hit her, though he denied this. He said the woman “was a junkie” and he threw her out of the house.
The girlfriend later told authorities that he was throwing her things out of the house earlier, and at one point he was angry and pulled a knife on her.
A neighbor told deputies that the couple were constantly fighting, and he believed both were methamphetamine addicts.
The neighbor heard the woman say weeks before that he had hit her.
On top of the felony menacing charge, domestic violence was applied as a sentence enhancer.
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