Police allegedly found “an assortment of pipes” when a man living at Cinema Court Apartments called police dispatch on March 28 and alleged that “people were trying to break into an apartment with a gun.”
The man was reportedly standing outside when police arrived, and allegedly told police “people” were “now in the apartment in a locked bedroom.” The man was allegedly found to be in possession of drugs and paraphernalia after a police search of the apartment didn’t locate any people inside or around the apartment premises.
More than a dozen officers with the Moab City Police Department and the Grand County Sheriff’s responded to the initial call to Cinema Court Apartments, 1036 Mill Creek Drive, at about 5 p.m.
Some Cinema Court Apartment residents waited to return home as police vehicles blocked the road and driveway entrance.
Several people waiting in their vehicles across the street said they had just returned home from work and had been told the police’s response was due to a burglary. A few minutes later, a police officer said law enforcement was called to the scene but there was no burglary.
“Meanwhile, during a search of the room looking for the armed suspects, we located a lot of drug paraphernalia all over in plain view,” police reports said, describing alleged “pipes” seen in various locations throughout the apartment.
Reports said police obtained a warrant to perform a further search. Inside the room, they located items belonging to the reporting man, and allegedly he told police he shared the bedroom with another man where methamphetamine was found with “small baggies” and a “scale” allegedly used for distribution.
Police said they arrested the reporting man and located and arrested his roommate working at a restaurant on Main Street for second-degree felonies for possession of methamphetamine with an intent to distribute.
Reports said police learned that one of the men has children, and allegedly a child had recently been at the apartment for a week over “spring break.” The men were subsequently charged with third-degree felony child endangering. In addition, the men face class B misdemeanors for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.
The men were booked into the Grand County Jail. No injuries were reported.
Moab City Police Chief Jim Winder said the police and deputy sheriffs were training that day, resulting in an unusually large response to the incident. Winder said the department will revise communication in the agency to avoid calling in additional units from across the county if it’s not necessary.
Police search Mill Creek Drive apartment
