Crime Briefs: Tire slasher blames his tattoos for accusations |

Crime Briefs: Tire slasher blames his tattoos for accusations

Ryan Summerlin

Rifle police arrested a 26-year-old man early Sunday morning at the Roadway Inn after they received reports of a tire slashing, bizarre behavior and violent threats.

Rifle police were earlier called to the same location for a reported bike theft and contacted the same man as a suspect. At that time officers didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest.

A truck owner who reported his tires had been slashed described the man as “wearing an Insane Clown Posse hat sideways,” according to an affidavit. The suspect had “sarcastically asked him for a ride and then stated, Oh, I’m sorry, you can’t because you have a flat tire,” the truck owner told police.

After making several comments to the man about his tire being flat, he reportedly threatened the man, saying he would “slit your throat [and] cut your head off.”

A couple nights earlier a woman working the front desk had seen him walking in and out and around the lobby. He pulled out a pocket knife and started telling her about how sharp it was and about how he’d cut people before, frightening her, she told police.

The night of the arrest he was walking in and out of the lobby smoking cigarettes, talking to himself and getting confrontational with other hotel guests. The two women working at the time decided that he needed to leave, and he became angry, cursing at them and jumping onto their desk. One woman said she was going to call her husband, who also works at the hotel, and the young man said he would blow the man’s brain out, according to a police report.

The 26-year-old reportedly threatened the women, that he would “cut their heads off and was going to blow up the building,” according to an affidavit. The 26-year-old had a knife when police earlier contacted him.

Officers went to his room and arrested him, and he claimed he didn’t do anything “and that people accuse him of things because he has tattoos.”

When he was hauled to jail, he resisted getting out of the police cruiser. “I used a minimal amount of force to pull (him) out of the car and he began taunting me stating he was becoming sexually aroused with the use of force,” an officer reported. He then repeatedly “lunged towards the car leading with his head to hit his head into my patrol car window.” The officer eventually took the man to the ground, bashing his chin on the concrete. The officer called an ambulance, and the man began faking unconsciousness, the officer reported.

“When the fire department personnel arrived, (he) began making inappropriate flirtatious overtures towards the female medic,” the officer reported. Before being incarcerated, he was checked out at Grand River Hospital, where officers reported that he continued to “curse, spit on the ground and be a general nuisance.”

He was arrested on two counts of felony menacing, along with misdemeanors criminal mischief, criminal trespass and obstruction of a peace officer.

Woman in crisis had Fireball, loaded pistols

Glenwood Springs police responded to a woman who was reportedly making suicidal statements on the afternoon of May 20. Her family reported that she was upset after an argument and had just left the home in a black Hummer with two loaded pistols.

Pinging her cell phone, officers narrowed her location to Glenwood Meadows and found the Hummer in the Target parking lot, the woman still in the driver’s seat. Officers called in EMS to respond to a suicidal female, and they began to detain her until EMS could arrive. However, the woman resisted their attempts to detain her.

They searched her for any weapons, wary over the reports that she had loaded pistols. She tried to resist an officer’s attempts to search her. An officer tried to remove her belt from around her waist “so that she did not use it as a noose,” according to an affidavit.

She shouted for the officer to get off her, and donkey kicked the officer’s shin and stomped on his foot. She tried to kick the officer again, but the officer took her to the ground, bashing her chin on the blacktop. After being secured, the woman apologized for kicking the officer, according to the police report.

While looking for the pistols in the vehicle, an officer found a number of open Fireball Whisky bottles in the driver’s side door and in the back pocket of the passenger’s seat. The two pistols were found loaded, each with a round chambered and one of them cocked.

She told police she drank the Fireball shooters that were in the vehicle and that she had been drinking at home beforehand.

She was arrested on charges of second degree assault on a police officer, a felony, as well as driving under the influence and possession while under the influence, both misdemeanors.

Rifle man arrested for meth

Authorities have arrested a 21-year-old Rifle man after Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team says it made two undercover purchases from him totaling 58.5 grams of methamphetamine.

The first undercover buy was in November, and the second was in January. The first occurred in the Glenwood Springs Mall parking lot. A confidential informant and undercover task force officer positively identified the man who sold them 29 grams of methamphetamine for $750 as 21-year-old Abran Gutierrez, according to TRIDENT.

After that buy, the confidential informant stayed in touch with Gutierrez, who reportedly said he would not sell anything under an ounce.

The second buy occurred in the Wal-Mart parking lot. This time the undercover officer wore a wireless transmitter “for his safety and to monitor the controlled purchase,” according to a TRIDENT report. During this buy, a TRIDENT officer purchased about 29.5 grams for $775.

Gutierrez was arrested May 24 on two counts each of distribution of more than seven grams of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute, and possession of methamphetamine, all drug felonies.

TRIDENT buys 50 hits of LSD

Authorities have arrested a 20-year-old Carbondale man after TRIDENT reports it made two undercover buys of LSD from him in November. In total, TRIDENT bought 50 “hits” of LSD from the young man.

A confidential informant reported to TRIDENT that David Aguilar had told him or her on numerous occasions that he would sell the informant “LSD or anything else he/she needs.”

The first buy, which an undercover officer made accompanied by the confidential informant, occurred in the Carbondale City Market parking lot. For $200 the TRIDENT officer bought 20 hits of LSD, which came in the form of perforated paper marked with cartoon faces. The substance tested positive for LSD, according to an arrest report.

The second buy was for 30 hits of LSD for $275. This buy occurred at the Phillips 66 gas station in Carbondale, where the man reportedly handed off the drugs during a handshake. This time the LSD was again in the form of connected tabs of paper decorated with multiple colored “Deadpool” faces.

The man was arrested May 24 on two counts each of distribution of LSD, possession with intent to distribute LSD and possession of LSD, all drug felonies.

Glenwood man chokes ex

Glenwood Springs police arrested a 26-year-old man Tuesday after his ex reported that he had shoved and choked her in an argument.

He is the father of the woman’s daughter, and the two still live together, according to a police report.

She told police that he became angry with her when she came home late, and they began arguing. She reported that she made a joke that made him angry, and he pushed her with both hands and then got on top of her and choked her. He choked her for about a minute with enough force that she could not breathe, she told police.

When he let her up, she slapped him twice in the face, and he began choking her again. Their 1-year-old daughter was present during this incident.

The 26-year-old man later told police that they’d argued because she had gone out and had drinks with friends before coming home. He claimed that she started hitting him before he pushed her and that he had put her in a choke hold after she continued trying to hit him.

He was arrested on charges of felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor harassment. Domestic violence was included as a sentence enhancer.

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