Last week, the UW-Eau Claire Police Department had cases involving a homeless person hanging out in the lobby of the Haas Fine Arts Center, a 911 hang-up and the smell of marijuana coming from a dorm room.

Check Person

At 5:40 p.m on Tuesday, Oct. 13, an officer received a call from a custodian at Haas Fine Arts Center who said that a homeless person was hanging around the lobby. 

Upon arrival, the officer spoke to the custodian who said the subject that was hanging around was a Native American male that is approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall with dark dreadlocks.

The custodian said the subject had been carrying several plastic grocery bags, a backpack and a walking stick and was within the main lobby sitting near the theatre wing. The subject was wearing a mask.

The officer conducted a search of the immediate and surrounding area and could not locate the subject. The officer asked several students walking around the area whether they had seen the subject around. None of the students said they had seen the subject.

The officer left Haas Fine Arts Center and conducted a search of lower campus for the subject. The officer did not find a subject matching the description the custodian gave.

911 Hang-Up

At 8:49 p.m. an officer was dispatched to Murray Hall to investigate a 911 call that was coming from an open line with no response at the other end. 

The officer conducted a CampS search of the phone number and traced it to someone that lived in a room on Murray Hall’s fourth floor. 

The officer traveled to Murray Hall and knocked on the door to the room for several minutes with no answer. The officer did not hear any noise coming from the room.

Someone who lived in one of the surrounding rooms heard the knocking and asked what was going on. The officer asked if they had seen anyone go in or out of the room lately.

The person said they saw a female enter the room approximately an hour before the officer arrived. They said they did not see anyone leave the room.

Since the room was locked, the officer conducted a CampS search for a roommate’s number due to the potential of a medical emergency.

The officer called the roommate who answered. She said both her and her roommate were at the McPhee pool. 

She said her roommate’s cell phone was stuck in SOS mode and they were unable to stop it.

She said there was no emergency.

Drug Case   

At 7:53 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18 an officer was dispatched to Horan Hall to respond to a drug case.

A resident assistant said they smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the first floor. 

Upon arrival, the officer spoke with a resident assistant who said she had smelled around many door frames and pinpointed the smell coming from a room on the first floor, approximately five minutes before the officer arrived.

The officer went to the area of the room and immediately smelled the odor. The officer smelled around the door frames and found the room the odor was coming from.

The officer knocked on the door of the room and heard the shuffling of items behind the door. The officer knocked again and a male subject answered the door, identified himself and confirmed he resided in the room.

The male subject said his roommate was also in the room. Both subjects said yes when the officer asked if they could enter the room.

When the officer entered the room, he noticed the smell of marijuana got stronger and both subjects had red and glossy eyes.

The subjects said they had smoked marijuana in the room two hours before the officer arrived.

The officer asked the first subject if he had any illegal items in the room. He said he did — the officer found a silicone pipe and THC wax on his window sill. He said there were other illegal items in a cardboard box in his closet and pointed it out to the officer.

The officer opened the box and found a red silicone container, white silicone

container, green silicone container and glass container which all had THC wax inside. In addition, the officer found a clear glass bong and wax paper, which contained THC wax.

The officer asked the subject if he had any other illegal items. The subject said he had alcohol in the room.

The subject retrieved 26 cans of Miller Lite and 12 cans of Truly Hard Seltzer from

underneath his lofted bed. The subject said he brought the items from home.

The officer searched the items and did not locate anything else of interest.

The officer asked the second subject if he had anything illegal in the room. He said he had an Evolve Plus Vape Pen, which he used to smoke THC wax in, and two canisters of TK Extracts OG THC Kush Vape.

The subject retrieved the items from his dresser. The officer asked if he had any other illegal items in the room. 

The subject advised that there were 14 cans of Miller Lite in his gym bag and a bottle of Hennessy Cognac in his dresser he had brought from home. 

The officer retrieved the items and observed the liquor bottle was about one third full.

The officer searched the items and didn’t find anything more of interest. 

The officer conducted record checks on the subjects. Both of the subjects held valid Wisconsin driver’s licenses, had no wants, were not on probation and had no prior related drug offenses on their records.

The officer completed a Eau Claire County Proxy form for both of the subjects. Both scored a three, which is classified as a “medium risk” of reoffending. 

The officer advised the subjects they were eligible to participate in the Eau Claire County Diversion Program.

After the officer explained the program to the subjects, they both said they wanted to participate and signed the Eau Claire County Diversion Agreement form.

The officer escorted the subjects to a nearby custodial closet to dispose of the alcohol. The subject properly disposed of all of the alcohol found in their room.

The officer seized the drug related items for processing and updated the hall director of the situation before clearing Horan Hall.

The officer transported the drug paraphernalia and marijuana to the UW-Eau Claire Police Department where the items were photographed, packaged, labeled and secured.

Fanetti can be reached at [email protected].