Police Blotter

A man police said rushed at an officer with a pencil raised as if to stab him was stunned with a Taser and booked on felony assault charges Monday night after a reported assault at a West Seventh Street mobile home park, according to Cortez Police Department reports.

The following items are drawn from 11 incident reports released by the Cortez Police Department for Oct. 22 through Oct. 28. An arrest, summons or citation is an accusation, not a conviction, and everyone named is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The Cortez Current will update a blotter item when it learns that charges were dismissed or a case was resolved; anyone named can send documentation to CortezCurrent@pm.me.

Thursday, Oct. 22

8:48 a.m., 508 E. Main St. (City Market). An officer looking for America Billsie, who had active warrants, found the red Jeep Grand Cherokee she was driving at City Market and arrested her as she got out. A records check on one of the vehicle’s occupants, Harry Bylilly, showed an active warrant for failure to appear in case DC2613629. Bylilly asked what the warrant was for, then complied and was arrested, according to the report. Billsie was booked on two failure-to-appear warrants, in cases DC2614104 and 21T447, and Bylilly on his warrant. The Jeep was left parked on City Market property.

12:14 p.m., 110 W. North St. (St. Barnabas Episcopal Church). Dispatch reported a fight at the church and described a man seen walking east from it. An officer found Nathan Myers, who matched the description, walking eastbound; police said he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol. Myers told the officer he had no idea what happened and had not been fighting with anyone, according to the report. Told he was detained, Myers said he was leaving and kept walking despite repeated orders to stop; the officer caught up to him on foot and handcuffed him for obstruction. Police said Myers was verbally combative and profane throughout. A man at the church provided security camera footage of the incident and said he was willing to help with the prosecution; police said the footage corroborated his account. At the jail, Myers did not give a valid breath sample, so he was taken to the emergency room for medical clearance. He was booked into the Montezuma County Jail on charges of harassment and obstruction of a peace officer.

Friday, Oct. 23

8:56 p.m., 1835 E. Main St. (Walmart). A Walmart employee reported an intoxicated man who was not wearing shoes and refused to leave. An officer found the man, identified as Casiano Salt, outside the store’s east exit. Police said Salt refused to give his name, said he had done nothing and kept walking away after being told he was detained; he was handcuffed when a second officer arrived. Salt gave a date of birth that did not match the one his wife gave officers, and he later admitted giving false information, according to the report; police found his ID in his pocket after arresting him. A store employee told police Salt had been lying on a display, put a bottle of shampoo in his pocket that his wife then took out, made a crude sexual remark to a group of teenage boys and approached a man carrying a holstered handgun, then accused that man of trying to sexually assault him. Another witness said Salt followed her and made her uncomfortable. He refused a breath test at the jail and was taken to the Southwest Memorial Hospital emergency room for medical clearance. Salt was issued a Cortez Municipal Court summons for interfering with an officer and disturbing the peace, and was served a never-expiring trespass notice from Walmart.

Sunday, Oct. 25

6:10 p.m., 200 block of East Main Street. An officer on patrol saw Kyle Nakai with three other people and contacted the group after Nakai walked behind a building into the alley; dispatch confirmed he had two active warrants. A second officer saw Nakai run west on foot. After a passerby reported a man running behind Wendy’s at 221 E. Main St., an officer saw Nakai running south through the alley between South Washington and South Ash streets, then lost sight of him in the 300 block of South Ash Street. A third officer found Nakai near Third Street and South Ash Street and chased him on foot, and he was handcuffed on the ground. Nakai was booked into the Montezuma County Detention Center on two Montezuma County Court warrants, in cases 26T0397 and 26CR0120, and a Montezuma County summons for obstructing.

9:33 p.m., 109 W. Main St. An officer on patrol noticed suspicious activity outside the county office building that houses the District Attorney’s Office and found a man covered in blood and two women. One of the women was unconscious but breathing and later came to, disoriented. While assessing the scene, the officer saw Taemeeka Cuthair choking the man with her hand, separated them, and police said Cuthair then struck the man in the face as the officer tried to gain control. She was handcuffed and resisted being put in the patrol car, according to the report. Cuthair told police the man had punched her and stolen her necklace, then later said someone else had taken it. The man, who told police he was dating Cuthair, was taken to the emergency room; before he left, he told police another man had hit him with a sock filled with rocks in front of the building’s main entrance. An officer who followed up the next day was told the incident was not caught on the building’s cameras. Cuthair declined a screening exam at Southwest Memorial Hospital and was booked into the Montezuma County Detention Center on a Montezuma County summons for domestic violence and third-degree assault.

Monday, Oct. 26

1:05 a.m., 106 W. North St. (Montezuma County Health Department). An officer on patrol saw a man and a woman partly undressed under a blanket in front of the health department, with several other people sleeping nearby, and told them to pull up their pants. As the woman did, she woke a man who had been sleeping beside them, according to the report. She told the officer they were having sex. The officer told them the behavior was uncalled for in public, next to people who were sleeping. Christopher Neuwirth and Lucretia Silas were each issued a Montezuma County summons for indecent exposure; both signed their summonses.

1:03 p.m., 200 block of East Main Street. An officer on patrol recognized Isaac Sanchez walking east and confirmed through dispatch that he had two active Montezuma County Combined Courts warrants, in cases 26M133 and 26M5020. He was arrested and served both warrants at the Montezuma County Jail.

6:38 p.m., 300 block of North Ash Street. A property owner who rents his home to short-term guests called police about Matthew Aguirre, who he said had been camping in the alley behind the property for about a year and a half, lately several times a week. The owner told police he had known Aguirre for more than 10 years and had taken him to meals, offered him a place to stay in his shed and let him use his shower, and that guests had called asking who was in the alley, according to the report. The officer told the owner that because Aguirre was in the alley, he was not trespassing on private property, but could be cited for camping. The officer found Aguirre under a thin blanket and a towel; Aguirre said he did not know it was cold enough to go to the shelter yet and would probably go that night. The officer told him the low was expected to reach 31 degrees. Aguirre was issued a Cortez Municipal Court summons for camping on public property, with a court date of Nov. 30, and was advised to go to the shelter.

7:59 p.m., 400 block of West Seventh Street. Dispatch reported that Anthony George had assaulted someone at a mobile home park and left, then advised that he had come back. According to the report, the trouble began after George was told he could not return to his trailer because it was being remodeled; after a 911 call, he came back, called people names and threw keys at one person’s feet. When the officer arrived, police said George behaved erratically, refused to give his name and cursed at the officer. The officer drew a Taser and told George to turn around and put his hands behind his back; George said no, then within a second made a sudden dash toward the officer with a pencil in his raised right hand, point down, in a position to stab, according to the report. The officer fired the Taser, and George fell and was handcuffed. He was placed in a restraint system and taken to the Southwest Memorial Hospital emergency room, where a woman was also treated for a facial injury. After medical clearance, George was booked into the Montezuma County Jail on a felony hold for criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, for advancing on the officer with the pencil as a weapon, and second-degree assault, for the earlier assaults.

Tuesday, Oct. 27

7:24 p.m., alley behind 443 E. Main St. (Cork-N-Bottle Liquors). An officer responding to a reported assault found Jarvis Black, who matched the description, sitting on a retaining wall on the northwest side of City Market’s property, and the man who reported the assault pointed Black out. That man told police Black had hit a woman with his fist and then a rock, poured liquor from a large bottle onto her face and made threats. The woman told police she was in the alley behind the liquor store looking for her siblings when Black, who knew her brother, approached her angry about her brother and sister, struck her in the face and threw liquor at her, according to the report. The officer saw a minor scrape and slight swelling below her left eye; she said she felt dizzy after being struck and wanted to press charges. Black was arrested and, after being read his rights, denied hitting anyone. Because of his level of intoxication, he was taken to the Southwest Memorial Hospital emergency room for medical clearance. He was served a Montezuma County summons for third-degree assault and left in the custody of jail personnel.

Wednesday, Oct. 28

9:56 p.m., 500 block of East Main Street. An officer on patrol saw Jeremy Lehi walking east and confirmed through dispatch that he had an active warrant. Jail deputies would not accept him until he was medically cleared because of his level of intoxication, so he was taken to Southwest Memorial Hospital, where he was cleared. He was booked into the Montezuma County Detention Center on a warrant in case 26M422.

Nine of the 11 reports say they were drafted with Axon’s Draft One software from the officer’s body-camera audio and reviewed by the officer.