Police Blotter
UW-Eau Claire Police handled a drug case this week on campus
More stories from Stephanie Smith
At approximately 10:54 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28. campus police was dispatched to Towers in reference to a drug investigation. The officer responded from the bottom of the Garfield Avenue hill.
While traveling up the hill, the female officer observed a male subject walking down the hill toward her. According to the report, she was familiar with this subject due to prior drug investigations and check person cases.
The male subject was wearing a greenish-yellow sweatshirt, a backpack and black-rimmed glasses. The officer was aware the subject resided on the tenth floor in Towers, which is where the odor of marijuana complaint came from.
The subject has also been known to frequent the McIntyre Library and the 2- hour area of the Old Library during late evening hours, according to the report.
Campus police knocked on the room where the odor originated, but no one answered. According to the report, the officer assumed the male subject was headed to his usual spot at the library when she saw him earlier. She requested another officer meet her there.
At the library, the two officers were unable to find the subject but spoke with a student working at the front desk who stated the male subject they were describing had just left.
The subject told the student at the desk he was going to leave his backpack hidden under a table and walk to Water Street for a quick bite to eat.
One of the officers found the backpack and detected a strong scent of marijuana coming from it. She requested the library staff to call the police when he returned to retrieve his backpack.
Approximately 20 minutes later, the police were contacted by library staff, who advised the subject had re-entered the building but left again.
The officers observed the subject was walking southbound up the Garfield Avenue hill. They headed to the Hilltop Center to catch him when he reached the top.
Once the subject arrived at Hilltop Center, the officers noticed the subject was no longer wearing his sweatshirt or backpack and asked to speak with him.
According to the report, the subject smelled of marijuana. One officer advised the subject she had been up to his room for a report of marijuana.
The subject denied smoking inside of his room because he knew it was not a smart thing to do and denied smoking outside as well.
He also said he could not smell the odor of marijuana coming from his person or room, advising he did not have a sense of smell due to an accident he was in. When asked where the subject’s backpack was, he pointed in the direction toward the dorms and said it was “over there.”
When asked if he had any marijuana stored in his room, the subject said he keeps his weed with his friends who live off-campus because he knows better than to store the drug in his dorm room.
One officer asked the subject to show her where the backpack was, and he led the officers to an area located behind the dumpsters and bike racks underneath Towers Hall North.
The subject first denied them of consent to search the bag but finally agreed to the search and told police he had illegal items inside one of the side compartments.
Campus police located a metal grinder, a dug-out with a one-hitter inside, a package of cigarillos, a rolling device and a black case with a glass pipe, rolling paper and a smaller black zipper pouch with marijuana inside.
Also inside was an orange prescription pill bottle containing two different kinds of pills. The pill bottle had no label or markings on it.
According to the report, the officer stated the pills were Adderall and Oxycodone, which the subject said he had a prescription for but had no proof to provide the officers.
The officers were given consent to search the rest of the subject’s belongings, in which they found an opened cigarette pack with a rolled marijuana joint inside. Campus police also found more Oxycodone as well as Amphetamine.
Altogether, the officers located a total of 113 pills.
One officer noticed the subject had a folding knife in his rear pocket and asked him if he had any illegal items on him. As the subject stated he did not, the officer advised him she saw the knife and removed it from his back pocket.
The officers brought the subject into the hall director’s office, where the subject stated he had previously been arrested for drug charges by campus police.
Due to the large number of pills and several previous drug related charges, the officer advised the subject he was under arrest. The officer placed handcuffs around the subject’s wrists and placed him in passenger side of the squad car.
The officer conducted a circuit court access search of the subject and found in 2009, he had been arrested for possession of THC and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also had received another misdemeanor conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia in 2008.
The officer charged the subject for possession of marijuana — felony, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of Amphetamine and possession for oxycodone — felony.