Sahuarita Municipal Court

Cases below were heard by Judge Kate Dawes on Nov. 10 unless otherwise noted. Information was supplied by the office of the Town Prosecutor Chris Wencker.

Carrie Ann Herrod, 48, Sahuarita, was given a diversion on four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in which she was ordered to complete 16 hours of drug education and pay a $75 prosecution fee before her next hearing in February. She was cited Oct. 15 at 8:45 p.m. at her home.

Joseph Marshall Craig Aldridge, 18, Sahuarita, was charged in that same incident with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, as were four juveniles, two girls aged 15 and 17, and two boys aged 16 and 17.

Police driving along a residential street passed Herrod’s house and said they saw through a partly open garage door a dark purple, 18-inch tall bong, or marijuana pipe, on a table in the garage. The table was flanked by two couches where the young people were sitting. Police said they saw Aldridge pull the bong out of sight and questioned the suspects about what happened to it. Aldridge denied knowing what happened to the bong, so he was arrested and then said it was behind the couch. One of the young people went to get Herrod, who claimed she didn’t know what had been happening in the garage. However, a police officer said that 13 days earlier Herrod had been informed that children appeared to be smoking marijuana in the garage but she said they were not doing so. Police smelled marijuana, told the juveniles to call their parents and saw a plastic bag with a leafy green substance in the garage. When none of the five young people acknowledged who owned the bag, police charged them all.

Alejandro Romero, 26, Tucson, who was in custody and was seen by video court, pleaded guilty to false reporting to law enforcement and was given time served.

Robert Lewis Brown, 27, Tucson, who was in custody and was seen by video court, pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and was sentenced to time served.

Adrian Alfonso Castaneda, 31, Sahuarita, pleaded responsible to having no current registration, a civil charge, and was fined $170. He originally had been charged with the criminal offense of having an expired temporary registration. He won dismissal of a charge of skipping an arraignment.

Sandra A. Ramos, 37, Sahuarita, who was cited for driving on a suspended license, was ordered to produce a valid license in court at a Jan 4, 2010 review hearing. By producing a valid license she can qualify for the standard plea bargain, which involves reducing the charge and paying a fine of $143 instead of $562.

Arrests and Citations

Amber R. Rodriguez-Gutierrez, 19, Sahuarita, on Oct 28, 9:45 a.m. at her home in the 15000 block South Camino Agua Azul, was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia after a neighbor spotted a dead dog on her porch and called authorities. The neighbor was talking a walk along the Sahuarita Lake Park and saw the dog lying on the back porch and not moving. The next day, the same person saw the dog in the same position and called police, who went to the door and got no answer but saw the dog on the back porch. Animal Control arrived and said there was no violation. Neighbors told police that is a party house that was visited by many young people who appeared to be using drugs and urged police to look up the history of calls in the past two months. While police were standing out front, Rodriguez-Gutierrez opened the front door and looked around, so police said they’d been told about drugs in the house and asked to come in and look around and she said yes. Police looked around and saw a hookah (an elaborate water pipe) on a table in the master bedroom and asked to look in a dresser drawer and found a water pipe. They discovered residue on each pipe, asked the defendant who the pipes belonged to and she said they were hers. She was cited and police left.

Thomas E. Akers, 19, Sahuarita, on Nov. 3 at 11:30 p.m. was charged with possession of marijuana after police spotted him walking and breathing heavily in the vicinity of a police call about a woman screaming in the street near El Toro and Country Club roads. He was patted down for weapons and when police found a lump in his sock he tried to run but one officer grabbed his ankle and one grabbed his arm. He said “It’s just weed. it’s just weed, it ain’t no cocaine or heroin,” according to a report. Police found a plastic bag in his sock containing a leafy green substance. He said he was walking around after an argument with his girlfriend and saw the bag on the ground and thought it was marijuana.

Zachary A. Michael, 22, Sahuarita, Nov. 5 at 6:48 p.m. was cited for expired registration and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was stopped for the expired registration and appeared nervous to police, who smelled an odor of marijuana and asked if there were any illegal contraband in the car. He looked at the console and said, “I don’t think so.” The officer said that possession of marijuana is a cite-and-release offense so he opened up the console and displayed a jar with leafy green substance. Another officer arrived and searched the car and found a pipe. He was cited and released.

Nubia C. Suarez, 26, Green Valley, on Oct. 6 at 2:20 p.m. was charged with failure to control speed to avoid an accident and failure to stop at the scene of an accident. Police said she hit another vehicle traveling eastbound on Rancho Sahuarita Boulevard near La Villita Road and both drivers got out and agreed to meet at the Rancho Sahuarita clubhouse parking lot nearby but she never went there. She claimed she went to the clubhouse and the other driver did not, but police pointed out that they went to the clubhouse when called by the other driver.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com| 547-9738