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Thursday, Mar 28th

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Weekly Police Activity Report

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Handcuffed to a fence

3/29, Continental Divide

When Glenn Slaughter discovered a Thoreau man trespassing in his Continental Divide store, he knew he had to detain him until a sheriff deputy arrived. So he handcuffed him to a fence post.

When McKinley County Sheriff’s Dep. Ivan Tsethlikai Jr. arrived at the Indian Village Gift Shop on State Highway 122 March 29, he found Duane Yazzie, 49, of Thoreau handcuffed to a fence near the store.

Glenn Slaughter, co-owner of the store, told the officer that when Yazzie entered his store, he recognized him from a previous incident where he was told not to come back to the store.

He said when he informed Yazzie he was trespassing, he became uncooperative and started arguing with him before he walked out. Slaughter said he followed him outside and saw him running around the parked cars to get away from him.

Slaughter said he managed to catch him and handcuff him to a fence south of the store.

Tsethlikai said when he talked to Yazzie, he said he did not know he had been barred from going into the store. He also denied that he had been in the store. Tsethlikai placed him under arrest for criminal trespass.

Missing mother

3/27, Gallup

Officers arrived at the 200 block of Montoya Boulevard around 8:40 pm after a woman reported two children at her house whose mother could not be reached. Gallup Police Officer Charles Steele arrived to speak with the woman who made the report, and she said the children came over and hadn’t seen their mother, Anastasia Chee, 30. When the woman tried to call her cell phone, the mother “sounded intoxicated and hung up,” according to the police report.

Steele spoke with the children, who said their mother was not home all night and their father lives in Phoenix. Steele headed toward the children’s residence, and on the way saw two intoxicated women heading in the same direction. Steele caught up with one of the women who looked “highly intoxicated” and had no shoes on, according to the report. She identified herself as Chee, and said she did not know where her children were. She was booked for abandonment of children.

The children were released to their grandmother.

Children in danger

3/27, Gallup

It began with a fight and ended up with a Gallup woman facing two counts of abandonment of her children and placing them in a dangerous situation.

GPD Officer John Gonzales said he was dispatched to a residence on Montoya Boulevard about 12:51 am on March 27 because of a report of two women fighting at that address.

When he got there, he found Alexandra Scott, 24. Nearby was another woman who was identified as Deandrea Garcia.

According to Gonzales, Scott was intoxicated and yelling at Garcia. Gonzales said he asked Scott for identification but she said she left it in her apartment. But when she tried to get into her apartment, she found it locked. She said her two children were inside
the apartment.

Scott became upset when she couldn’t open the door, said Gonzales, and as she was being walked over to Gonzales’ patrol unit, she became combative, resulting in Gonzales having to push her up against his unit and handcuffed her.

Garcia then approached Gonzales and asked where Scott’s children were. She then opened Scott’s apartment and Gonzales and another officer went inside to look for the children but they weren’t there.

Scott told Gonzales she had seen the children there just before police arrived. Another woman at the scene said they were in a car but police checked all of the cars in the area and found no children.

At that point, another woman came out of the apartment complex and said she had the children, ages seven and four. She said she took them to her apartment because she was concerned for their safety.

When the officers took the children back to their apartment, Gonzales said he found on a counter a glass pipe and a small baggie with a green leafy substance inside of it.

Gonzales said that because Scott was seen fighting with Garcia and because of Scott’s intoxicated condition and giving her children access to a possible narcotic, Scott was placed under arrest.

Since no family was located, police contacted the Children’s Youth and Family Department, and state officials picked them up.

Flushed too late

3/22, Gallup

GPD Officer Andrew Thayer was on patrol near the 200 block of West Coal Avenue when he saw a man who appeared to be intoxicated. When Thayer approached him, the man identified himself as Brian Yazzie and hesitated in remembering his birthday. When Thayer pressed Yazzie on his birthday, Yazzie said he knew it. Thayer was then informed that Yazzie had a warrant out, and he was placed under arrest.

Thayer searched the man and found bags that appeared to contain drugs, according to the police report. Once at the station, the man admitted that his name was Christopher Yazzie, 29. There was also a warrant out for him under that name. Yazzie was transported to jail and officers asked if he had anything on him that would not be allowed in jail. He said no, and allegedly asked Thayer if he could have some marijuana to smuggle into jail with him.

While Yazzie was changing his clothing, another officer saw him pull a plastic bag from his pocket and inhale its contents through his nose. Yazzie discarded the bag and flushed it, ridding the evidence. He told Thayer that he “had been trying to get high due to him having to stay in jail for six months due to his warrants,” according to the report.

Stolen goods

3/19, Gallup

GPD Officer Steven Eldridge was dispatched on a larceny call to Albertsons at about 3:02 pm, where security advised him that a woman there stole two 12 packs of beer.

The woman, Carol Torres, 50, was cited for shoplifting. She also had a warrant out for her arrest. Eldridge transported her to the McKinley County Detention center, where she was booked.