A Dayton man was arrested and faces felony drug charges after law officers discovered eight balloons of suspected heroin in his possession.
The arrest was made after Carson City deputies with the Special Enforcement Team were assigned to look for a separate man who had violated his parole, in the neighborhood of 20 College Parkway, at an apartment known for drug activity. The man — who was left to watch a small child — attempted to jump out of a second floor window, according to the arrest report. He was taken into custody.
Meanwhile, as officers waited for the child's mother to arrive, they discovered a cell phone on the subject detained, which had numerous calls from a "Jim." At about 11:45 p.m. Friday, a witness told officers that they saw a man walk toward the apartment but turned around after he saw the deputies. The arresting officer made contact with the 26-year-old suspect, identified as James Howard Kepler.
Officers began to question Kepler, who stated he was at the apartment to meet with the man who had been arrested. During the discussion with officers, the suspect attempted to put his right hand into his right pants pocket. The officer asked him not to do it and asked the suspect to sit on the stairs while his identification was checked.
While speaking with the suspect, Kepler twice attempted to put his hand into his right pants pocket. On the second attempt, the officer asked the suspect to stand up while the officer patted him down. The suspect grabbed his cellphone and jumped up, according to the arrest report.
The arresting officer had the suspect turn around to pat him down for weapons and the suspect again tried to reach into his pants pocket. The officer attempted to bring the man's hands behind his back to handcuff him, as the suspect tried to turn around and pull his arms from the officer, according to the arrest report.
The officer pushed Kepler against a wall to try to control him, but he continued to pull away from the officer and put his hand into his right pocket. A second deputy arrived to help the officer and was able to take the subject to the ground, where a handcuff was placed on the man's left wrist, according to the arrest report.
Kepler would not bend his right arm behind his back to be handcuffed, and a deputy therefore administered a contact tase to the man's back at which he stopped resisting and was handcuffed, according to the arrest report. However, when the man was stood up and told he was arrested, he again, while handcuffed, tried to reach his right hand into his right pants pocket. The arresting officer reached into his pocket and removed a plastic baggie which contained several small multi-colored balloons, commonly used to store heroin.
When Kepler saw the officer had found the balloons he stated he had bought them earlier in the day from the man who had been arrested in the same apartment. The suspect then stated he had a gun in his waistband, telling officers it was a bb gun. The arresting officer removed the black bb gun, where the subject told the officer that he bought it to scare the man he had bought the drugs from because he felt the man had "ripped him off."
A total of eight balloons of suspected heroin were found in the baggie. Kepler was arrested for possession of a controlled subsance, obstructing and resisting arrest. In addition, two subjects that were waiting for the man in a vehicle were both arrested for drug paraphernalia, warrants and obstruction and false identification.