Police Blotter

A driver who rear-ended a pickup stopped at the traffic signal at highways 160 and 491 on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 7, was arrested for driving under the influence after the officer writing her a ticket for the crash smelled alcohol on her, according to Cortez Police Department reports.

The following items are drawn from 21 incident reports released by the Cortez Police Department for Nov. 5 through Nov. 11. 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, Nov. 5

8:57 a.m., 610 E. Main St. (Front Row Seat building). A sergeant saw Wilson Jones and another man sitting on the building’s front patio. The property’s owners have asked police to cite people who are not supposed to be there, according to the report, and Jones had been barred from the property in 2021. He was issued a municipal summons for trespassing; the other man was given a trespass notice.

10:10 a.m., 15 W. Montezuma Ave. (Montezuma Park). Officers arrested Stefen Chihocky in the park on an active warrant and, in a search, found two small baggies of what appeared to be methamphetamine in his pants pocket, according to the report. After a medical clearance at Southwest Memorial Hospital, he was served at the jail with the warrant, in case 26M557, and a summons for possession of a controlled substance, under 4 grams. The substance will be sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for testing.

11:11 a.m., 865 N. Park St. (Montezuma County Combined Courts). Court deputies took Nickolaus Hill into custody at the courthouse on a warrant, and an officer took him to the jail, where he was booked on the warrant, in case 26CR63.

3:15 p.m., 718 E. Main St. (Liquid Assets). An officer on patrol saw Valerrean Begaye walking west on East Main Street with a man a court protection order bars her from contacting, and stopped the two at 610 E. Main St. Begaye told the officer she had been trying to get away from the man and was waiting for a ride, according to the report. She was arrested for violating the protection order and served with a court summons at the jail.

5:10 p.m., 730 E. Driscoll St. (Montezuma County Jail). Jeremiah Maestas turned himself in at the jail and was served with a county court warrant, in case 26M500, along with an earlier sheriff’s office court summons.

Friday, Nov. 6

2:25 p.m., 1835 E. Main St. (Walmart). Walmart’s asset protection staff reported that Ashley Murphy, who had been barred from the store, came back after being told to leave earlier in the day and waited in her van in the parking lot; store video showed the van in the first row, according to the report. Reached by phone, Murphy told the officer she had stayed in the van while her son shopped and had not known the trespass covered the parking lot. She was served with a municipal summons for trespassing on Nov. 9 at the Cortez Municipal Court.

4:35 p.m., 440 S. Broadway (Cozy Inn). A woman told an officer that Ronnie Astor Jr. pulled her hair and slapped and hit her in their room at the motel. She had recorded part of it on her phone, and the officer saw redness on her face, according to the report. Officers arrested Astor at the Cozy Inn, and after a medical clearance at the hospital he was issued a summons at the jail for third-degree assault, as an act of domestic violence.

7:22 p.m., 1400 block of East Main Street. An officer on patrol saw Fercinda Gould on the sidewalk with a man whom a protection order issued that day barred her from contacting. She was arrested and booked into the jail on a court summons for violating the order. When the officer then told the man he was free to go, the man asked what would happen if he pulled a knife and reached toward his waistband, and the officer drew a Taser and ordered him to show his hands, according to the report. He kept reaching toward his pockets, said he wanted to fight and resisted as officers handcuffed him, and officers found a folding knife on him. After a medical clearance at the hospital, he was booked on a felony hold for menacing, obstructing and resisting arrest. The Cortez Current is not naming him because he is the person the protection order protects.

Saturday, Nov. 7

3:02 p.m., Highway 160 and Highway 491. An officer sent to a two-vehicle crash found that an SUV driven by Sara Maestas had rear-ended a pickup waiting at the traffic signal, according to the report. Medics checked her at the scene. As the officer was writing her a ticket for the crash, he smelled alcohol on her; she said she’d had two shots that morning, and she did poorly on roadside sobriety tests and refused a preliminary breath test. She was arrested and took a breath test at the police station, then was issued a summons for driving under the influence, DUI per se and careless driving and released to a family member.

4:07 p.m., 500 block of East Empire Street. Officers called to a fight in an apartment found Namien Jackson, 18, with blood on the back of his head and a woman with a bump the size of a golf ball on her forehead. The woman said Jackson slammed her head into the floor, and witnesses told officers he pushed her down, pulled her back by the hair when she said she was leaving to get help, pulled an 11-year-old’s hair, held someone down by the neck on a bed for about 30 seconds and threw a chair that broke a TV, according to the report. Others in the apartment held him down until officers arrived. The woman was taken to the hospital, and medics checked the 11-year-old. After a medical clearance, Jackson was booked on a felony hold for second-degree assault, false imprisonment, third-degree assault, child abuse, harassment, violating a protection order, underage drinking and criminal mischief.

10:23 p.m., 500 block of North Mildred Road. An officer on patrol saw Shane Ketchum, who had an active felony warrant, walking north and arrested him. After a stop at Southwest Memorial Hospital for a medical clearance, he was booked on the warrant, in case 26CR180.

Sunday, Nov. 8

1:57 p.m., 1835 E. Main St. (Walmart). A caller reported two women drinking in a car in the Walmart parking lot and then stumbling into the store. An officer watched the car and stopped it as the driver, Sienna Hall, was backing out of the space; he saw open beer cans inside, Hall said she’d had “probably a couple beers,” and she did poorly on roadside sobriety tests, according to the report. A search of the car turned up two small baggies of white powder the officer believed was cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill with white residue. After a breath test at the police station, Hall was booked into the jail on a summons for driving under the influence, DUI per se, possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia. A field test of the powder was inconclusive, and it will be sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The passenger was not charged.

3:50 p.m., 508 E. Main St. (City Market). A man called to report that Edwin Lehi, who has been barred from City Market, was on the property threatening to stab him. An officer found Lehi in the Front Row Seat parking lot at 610 E. Main St. and, in a pat-down, found a red switchblade with a blade about 3 inches long in his pocket. A sergeant was told Lehi had pulled the knife and threatened to stab the man, and Lehi kept threatening the man on the way to the hospital for a medical clearance, according to the report. He was booked on a felony hold for felony menacing and third-degree criminal trespass.

Monday, Nov. 9

12:24 a.m., Highway 491 south of Towaoc. A Cortez officer and a state trooper stopped a rental car for crossing the fog line and going 70 mph in a 65 mph zone a few miles south of the casino in Towaoc. They searched the car after seeing a needle cap and several torches inside and after a sheriff’s deputy’s dog alerted on it, and found syringes and an unidentified substance, according to the report. In a search of the passenger, an officer found a small baggie of suspected methamphetamine, and bank and debit cards in other people’s names were found in the passenger door. The passenger gave a false name and was booked under the name Jonathan Howell, though he insisted his name was Michael Howell. He was served with a summons for possession of methamphetamine, possession of financial devices and criminal impersonation. The driver was released with a warning for the traffic violations; the officer wrote that the substance found in her bag will be sent to the state crime lab and that charges could depend on the results.

7:22 a.m., 700 block of East Montezuma Avenue. A woman called police about an hour after, she said, Darnell Armstrong put both hands around her neck, threw her against a bed and choked her during an argument. Officers saw no marks on her neck but photographed a broken fingernail she said happened as she tried to pull his hands away, and a fist-size hole in a bedroom wall that Armstrong said he made the day before, according to the report. Armstrong told the officer he had pushed her when she was trying to get him to hit her. He was booked on a felony hold; the report does not list the charges.

1:49 p.m., North Sligo Street and East Main Street. An officer on patrol saw Blaine Choyou, who had an active warrant, near the intersection and arrested him near Safeway, 1580 E. Main St. He was booked into the jail on the warrant, in case 25M372.

4:39 p.m., 1100 block of East Carpenter Street. A woman reported that a bedroom in her home had been wrecked while she was out. An officer found a broken VR headset, TV, computer and monitor and the bedroom door off its hinges, damage he estimated at $1,000 to $2,000, according to the report. The woman said Elijah Sloan was the only person with access to the home at the time; Sloan, who had a cut on his hand that he said came from throwing his phone during an argument, denied damaging anything. He was arrested on a charge of criminal mischief, as an act of domestic violence, and after a medical clearance at the hospital he was issued a summons at the jail.

Tuesday, Nov. 10

12:22 p.m., 730 E. Driscoll St. (Montezuma County Jail). James Scrivner turned himself in at the jail and was served with a warrant, in case 25M645.

4:49 p.m., 700 block of East Montezuma Avenue. An officer saw Michael Cordova and Shannon Story and, after a records check showed both had active warrants, arrested them. Cordova was booked on a La Plata County warrant, in case 22T501, and Story on a warrant in case 26M268.

6:21 p.m., 400 block of South Valley Road. A woman called 911 to report that a man had tried to get into her house, cursed at her over her doorbell camera when she told him to leave and then tried the back door. An officer found Vincent Shorty sitting in the front yard of the house next door; Shorty said he stayed in that home’s backyard, but the man who lives there said he did not know him, according to the report. Shorty was arrested, taken to the hospital for a medical clearance and served at the jail with a municipal summons for disturbing the peace.

8:50 p.m., 1322 E. Main St. (McDonald’s). Restaurant staff called about an unwanted man at the drive-through. An officer found Teryn Newman, who had already been barred from the McDonald’s, behind Plaza Laundry; the manager said Newman had been walking through the drive-through and then ordered food, according to the report. Newman said he was only picking up his burger. He was issued a municipal summons for trespassing.

Sixteen of the 21 reports say they were drafted with Axon’s Draft One software from the officer’s body-camera audio and reviewed by the officer.