SAFFORD – Last Wednesday around 8:00 pm, an officer on patrol observed a vehicle pulling into the parking lot of a local motel. The officer could see the driver was a male due to the dome light that was on in the vehicle. It appeared to the officer the driver was removing items from his pockets and placing them on the seat. The officer watched as the driver got out of the vehicle and knocked on a motel room door and then went inside. When the officer approached the vehicle, through the window he observed a torch lighter and a pack of cigarettes, which seemed to bulge with a paper towel that looked to be wrapped around an object. The officer was aware that cigarette packs with paper towels are generally used to ensure that fragile meth pipes don’t break and are also used to clean the pipe. The meth pipes become fragile after being heated up numerous times with a torch lighter to smoke meth.
After the officer had parked the patrol vehicle, the male driver returned within a minute to the vehicle and the officer approached him. The male reported he was returning to the vehicle because he had left the dome light on, and stated it was his father’s vehicle. When the officer spoke with the male about what had been observed, the male at first denied removing items from his pockets and then stated the cigarette pack was only garbage. When the male was asked if the items contained a meth pipe or drugs, he became silent and then asked, ” I guess that I’m going to jail then?” The male then stated there was a small amount of meth and confirmed there was a meth pipe also.
When authorities searched the vehicle, the meth pipe was found inside the cigarette pack along with a bag of meth. The officer asked if the male had been in trouble before, and it was reported the man had been in trouble back in 2006 for the same thing. The man said he had fallen off the wagon recently and started using a few weeks ago. The man was informed the report would be sent to the Graham County Attorney’s Office and he was released.
