Carson City arrests: Woman jailed, brings prison inmate balloons filled with drugs

A 39-year-old woman was arrested on multiple charges including drug trafficking, conspiracy, furnishing drugs to a prisoner and burglary, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

Melissa Anne Ericsen, of Reno, was taken into custody at 4:39 p.m. Sunday in the 3300 block of East Fifth Street.

According to the arrest report, a deputy was called to the Warm Springs Correctional Center for a controlled substance report. The officer learned from a prison officer that she saw Ericsen and an inmate, Jesse Feehan-Jones, at the visiting table and observed the prisoner acting strangely, taking something out of a candy bag and then immediately taking a drink. The prisoner did this several times, the report states.

The corrections officer later found a black latex balloon containing suspected controlled substances in Ericsen’s hand after Freehan-Jones dumped the bag of candy out and she grabbed something off of the table, the arrest report states.

During a consensual Mirandized interview with Ericsen, she told the investigating deputy that she brought the drugs into prison for her boyfriend at his request.

Ericsen told the officer that she got the drugs approximately a week ago and brought them into the prison in her undergarments and gave them to Feehan-Jones in the visiting room. Ericsen told the officer that Feehan-Jones swallowed three or four balloons before being caught and the had one left as she tried to leave the prison. She was arrested. Bail: $92,500.

— A 52-year-old Mound House woman, Johanna Marie Thomas, and a 45-year-old-transient, J.D. Powers, were arrested Saturday, 4:10 p.m. in the 1400 block of North Carson Street for suspicion of conspiracy to traffic controlled substances, possession of controlled substances for sale, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the arrest report, an investigation led to a suspicious vehicle in an empty parking lot and occupants with known drug histories. A canine did an exterior sniff of the vehicle and alerted positive for drugs. During a search officers found three spoons with residue, several hypodermic devices, a baggie with methamphetamine, a large baggie with 50 smaller baggies with a “Jolly Roger” symbol on them, commonly used for packaging drugs for sale, the arrest report states.

Two of the occupants consented to search cell phones, J.D. Powers refused consent.
The text messages discussed drugs and drug sales, the arrest report states. Bail for Thomas and Powers: $21,137 each.

— A 24-year-old Carson City man, Leopoldo Vieira, was arrested Sunday, 5:40 p.m. in the area of 3 Lane Circle for felony suspicion of preventing a witness from reporting a crime and misdemeanor domestic battery. According to the arrest report, the man allegedly struck the woman in the back, arm and pulled her hair and then took the victim’s cell phone, threw it against a wall and broke it. The suspect denied hitting the victim but admitted that he did take her phone and threw it against the wall preventing her from calling. Bail: $8,137.

— A 20-year-old Carson City woman who was booked into jail Sunday, 10:45 p.m. faces a gross misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous drug without a prescription after she attempted to bring a prescription bottle with Ondansetron, in which she did not have a prescription. Bail: $2,500.

— A 26-year-old Carson City man was booked into jail Sunday, 3:58 p.m in the area of Marian and Beverly streets for misdemeanor suspicion of driving on a revoked license for DUI, failing to stop at a stop sign and violation of bail conditions. Bail: $4,234.

— A 21-year-old Carson City man was arrested Sunday, 6:43 a.m. in the area of Como and Saliman for two misdemeanor contempt of court warrants and misdemeanor domestic battery. Bail: $4,137.

— A 27-year-old Carson City man was arrested Sunday, 2:29 p.m. at Walmart in the 3200 block of Market Street for misdemeanor suspicion of petit larceny. The man allegedly went into the store, selected an arm brace from the store shelf, went to customer service and attempted to return the arm brace using an old receipt. However customer service denied the return. The man then took the arm brace, passed all points of pay and exited the store. The suspect was read his Miranda rights where admitted to the theft. Bail: $352.

— A 21-year-old Carson City man was arrested Sunday, 1:24 a.m. in the 300 block of East William Street for misdemeanor suspicion of DUI, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, driving with a suspended license, fictitious plates, no proof of insurance and being in violation of alternative sentencing.

According to the arrest report, a deputy made a traffic stop on the vehicle at 12:52 a.m. for having a non-functioning passenger tail lamp. The officer met with the driver who had the odor of marijuana coming from his person. He advised he smoked marijuana recently and consumed alcohol.

The front seat passenger in the vehicle was a 15-year-old female, who also had an odor of alcohol coming from her person and provided a preliminary breath sample of .124, the arrest report states.

The suspect admitted to drinking shots of vodka and smoking marijuana within the past few hours of the stop. He submitted to field sobriety tests and showed signs of impairment on the tests. He was taken into custody. Bail: $4,390.

— A 33-year-old Dayton man, Michael Mcknight, was arrested Saturday, 6:23 p.m. in the 3800 block of Highway 50 East for felony suspicion of possession of methamphetamine, and misdemeanor driving without a seat belt.

Also arrested was a 22-year-old Dayton man, Daniel Lease, for felony suspicion of possession of methamphetamine and violation of pre-trial conditions. According to the arrest report, an officer made a traffic stop after observing a vehicle didn’t have a front or rear license plate displayed and the driver was not wearing a seat belt.

The driver then accelerated. The officer stopped the vehicle and advised the driver the reason for the stop. The officer then could see a moving permit was attached to the windshield of the vehicle. The officer could smell marijuana inside and learned Lease was on probation.

Both men then gave conflicting stories about what they were doing. A canine conducted an exterior sniff of the vehicle and alerted positive. Inside the vehicle the officer found a plastic bag with methamphetamine. Both men denied it was their methamphetamine and were arrested.

— A 26-year-old Carson City woman was arrested Saturday, 11:30 p.m. in the 400 block of North Carson Street for misdemeanor violation of bail conditions, which was not to be in a casino and to abide by a 9 p.m. curfew. Bail: $3,000.

— A 34-year-old Carson City man was arrested Saturday, 9:18 p.m. for misdemeanor DUI, no proof of insurance, driving an unregistered vehicle, failure to maintain a lane of traffic, driving on a suspended license, violation of bail conditions and open container.

According to the arrest report, a deputy responded to the 300 block of East Winnie Street for a report of an intoxicated driver who had run into a fence.

The officer arrived and saw the man on the sidewalk next to the vehicle, which had right front end damage from striking a concrete wall.

The man had an odor of alcohol on his breath and agreed to standardized field sobriety tests, showing impairment on the tests. He provided a breath sample with a result of .213, the arrest report states. At jail he provided breath samples of .334 and .320. Bail: $4,862.

— A 34-year-old Carson City man, Kenneth Case, was arrested Saturday, 9 a.m. in the 2000 block of Eastridge for a felony possession of a stolen firearm warrant and a parole and probation violation hold. Bail is $20,000 for the firearm warrant and a no bail hold in lieu of a hearing for the parole and probation violation.

— A 25-year-old Silver Springs man was booked Saturday into Carson City Jail for a failure to appear warrant issued out of Carson City Justice Court. Bail: $165.

All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.