Police Beat 4/17/2019: A Snapchat Catch

Snapface

A Snapchat brag lead to a picture-perfect drug bust for the University of Arizona Police Department on March 28.

UAPD received an anonymous tip through the LiveSafe app that a student in Manzanita-Mojave Residence Hall was selling drugs. The tip included a Snapchat video of the student’s drugs and his prices.

The video had been captured in the video inside what looked like a messy dorm room, according to the police. In the video, a student pinched marijuana buds to show their quality. He also had several THC cartridges, gummy edibles and a large white “rock” police suspected was cocaine.

Each item had a price tag attached that listed the item’s THC content in milligrams.

The officer went to Manzanita-Mojave and located the student’s room at around 5 p.m. He knocked on the door for about 5 minutes and could see someone’s feet moving around the room and someone looking out the door’s peephole.

The officer called the student’s cell phone number, which he obtained through a records check. On the second try, the student picked up and sounded as if he had been asleep. The officer asked him to open the door, as he was standing outside.

Three or four minutes later, the student answered the door and allowed the officer to enter his room. The officer immediately recognized the room as the one in the video.

The officer asked about the Snapchat video and the student denied such a video existed or that he had any part in the production of the video. He also denied having or selling any drugs.

The officer asked to search the room, but the student denied permission. The officer thanked the student for his time and left.

Based on what he had seen in the room and in the videos, the officer returned to the UAPD station and applied for a search warrant. He spoke to a superior court judge on the phone, who granted the warrant.

The officer returned to the student’s room at around 7:30 p.m. and searched the premises and the student.

Full THC cartridges, plastic baggies containing a white substance, multiple digital scales and a spiral notebook with a record of payments made and amounts owed were found in the room.

The officer also found a small safe. He asked the student to open it and explained that if he did not provide the combination, the safe would be forced open. The student refused.

The officer took the safe back to the station to open it there. Inside were dozens of full THC cartridges, gummy edibles, over 50 grams of marijuana, court paperwork for a different case involving the student and a Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

The student was arrested on six counts: marijuana possession, marijuana possession for sale, narcotic possession, narcotics possession for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm while committing a drug offense.

The student was booked in the Pima County Jail. The officer also forwarded a Student Code of Conduct violation to the Dean of Students Office.

Creep-tain America

Captain America certainly would not have approved of one man’s “creepy” behavior toward women on March 27.

UAPD received a report from dispatch about a man spotted “being creepy towards women,” at around 5 p.m.

The man was described as wearing a Captain America t-shirt and jeans. Officers located a man matching the description near the Steward Observatory. They stopped him and asked him some questions.

After the man identified himself, one of the officers ran his name through a records check and found the man was supposed to be registered as a sex offender and had been stopped by other UAPD officers the previous night for following students at the Coronado Residence Hall.

The man gave unclear answers to the officer’s questions, according to the police report. He gave several different addresses as his primary address. His Arizona ID card had also expired in February.

According to one of the officers, the man began to look as if he were getting ready to run after a few of the officer’s questions, so he handcuffed the man. He then placed the man under arrest for failing to possess a current ID and failing to properly register as a sex offender.

After the arrest, the officer called the student who had reported the man. The student said that while standing in front of the Kappa Sigma fraternity house, he saw that two women had to walk around the man when they entered their nearby sorority house.

After the arrest, the officer called the student who had reported the man. The student said he saw two women had to walk around the man when they entered their nearby sorority house.

After the women went inside the house, the man stood out front and attempted to watch the women walk up the stairs from outside. The student deemed this behavior “creepy” and called UAPD to report it.

While searching the man, another officer also found marijuana in the man’s pocket. Charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were added.

The officers transported the man to Pima County Jail, where he was booked. They also issued a six-month exclusionary order.

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