Saturday, Aug. 24
An officer responded to Mesa Verde National Park to assist Mesa Verde law enforcement locate a red SUV involved in a harassment. The victim was on an employee bus, and the vehicle was behind the bus. The officer responded to the employee housing where the victim was staying to speak with her about what happened. The woman said she was not harassed; that the people she was talking to were former employees of the park, but they got fired. She said they were just asking her for money. The officer spoke with the security guard at the housing area, and he said both of people had been fired, were given trespass warnings and told not to return. The guard also said he would press charges. The officer saw the two who had been fired getting into their vehicle. The officer issued them a summons for third-degree criminal trespass.
Sunday, Sept. 1
A woman called from a retirement home in Dolores saying that an at-risk adult male walked away from the home, and she was unable to locate him. She said she went to bring him a glass of tea while he was on the patio, but when she returned, he was gone. The man has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She said he had left before. After a two-hour search, the officer reported the man as a missing person. The next day around noon, the man called the retirement home in Dolores and told them to pick him up in Durango.
Monday, Sept. 2
Police were called to the Ute Mountain Casino in reference to a suspicious vehicle. Surveillance showed a female sitting in her vehicle injecting something into her arm with a needle. As the officer approached the woman, he saw her trying to hide a plastic bag inside a pair of jeans and then put the jeans in the back seat. When the officer looked through the window, he noticed a napkin with blood on it in the front seat and a plastic Baggie with a white crystal substance in the back seat next to a pair of jeans. Based on training and experience as a drug investigator, the officer suspected the substance to be methamphetamine. The female in the vehicle said she was not shooting up drugs, but she had done so earlier that day. She also said she didn’t know what was in the Baggie, but if it was drugs, then it was hers and not her friend’s, who is the owner of the vehicle. The woman said she went to her mother’s house earlier in the day to pick up some clothes, and there might have been an old Baggie of leftover methamphetamine in the pockets. She told the officer she had syringes in the vehicle and a broken meth pipe along with her medication. The officer searched the vehicle and found several other drug-paraphernalia items. The woman was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. The white crystal substance tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed about 1 gram.
Thursday, Sept. 5
An officer noticed a man changing a flat tire at Eagle Claw Liquor Store. The officer pulled over and asked the man if he was OK. While the officer was speaking with the man he recognized him. The officer checked the man for any wants and warrants. The man had an active municipal warrant out of the state. The man was placed into custody.