Carson City Sheriff's Office Special Enforcement Team deputies arrested a 22-year-old woman Thursday for felony violation of bail conditions in what turned into a bizarre series of events where officers found they were being surveilled as they attempted to make the arrest.
Karesa Ericka Steepe of Carson City was taken into custody at 8:43 p.m. after the arrest in the area of Stanton and Woodside streets. She is being held without bail awaiting a hearing on the felony Carson City District Court charge. A 21-year-old woman was also arrested on misdemeanor charges, including obstructing officers.
According to the arrest report, deputies were dispatched to a home in the 1500 block of Airport Road where it was learned Steepe may have been hiding in her mother's residence.
Officers had previously conducted a knock and talk contact with Steepe's mother who denied her daughter was at the residence. Actions afterwards, however, appeared otherwise.
According to the arrest report, Steepe's mother left and returned to the residence on foot and from vehicles several times, deputies observed. After discovering the mother was driving in circles with no destination in between, SET officers learned the mother was conducting a counter-surveillance on SETs vehicle positions, the arrest report states.
After watching the home, deputies observed Steepe's mother leaving in a vehicle again, while an unknown male left in another vehicle and a white van arrived and began to circle the area. This created a situation where SET officers were watching three vehicles, according to the arrest report.
Officers saw the 22-year-old Steepe run from the front door of her mother's residence where she got into the white van driven by a 21-year-old woman. The van immediately left east from the residence with the mother following behind in a separate vehicle.
A SET deputy drove around the mother and conducted a traffic stop on the white van at Stanton Drive and Woodside where Steepe attempted to hide in the rear seat, the arrest report states.
Deputies spoke with the van driver who didn't have a valid driver's license and was listed as a probationer with Alternative Sentencing.
Both women were taken into custody. Steepe was booked for violation of conditions of bail issued in Carson City District Court. A court hearing will determine her bail amount. The 21-year-old female driver of the van was booked on misdemeanor violation of probation, driving without a valid license and obstructing officers. Bail: $3,604.
In other arrests:
— A 45-year-old Carson City woman was arrested Thursday, 7:30 p.m. in the 600 block of Hot Springs Road on suspicion of a second DUI.
According to the arrest report, officers were dispatched to a convenience store in the 3000 block of North Roop where a witnessed observed a woman drinking from a bottle of vodka and then driving away.
Officers found the woman inside a vehicle parked on Hot Springs Road, with the keys in the ignition and the radio on. In the passenger's seat the arresting officer observed a bottle of vodka, the arrest report states.
The woman smelled strongly of alcoholic beverage and spoke with a slurred speech and had red, watery eyes. She stumbled when she walked and had to hold the car for balance. She was also uncooperative with officers and refused to take field sobriety tests, according to the arrest report.
The witness who saw the driver leave the convenience store positively identified the woman and said he would be willing to sign a criminal complaint against her for DUI, the arrest report states.
The woman was taken to jail where she chose a blood test. In November 2010 she was arrested in Washoe County for DUI and told the officer she had pled guilty to that DUI, according to the arrest report. Bail: $2,692.
— A 37-year-old Carson City woman was arrested Thursday, March 27, 10:51 a.m. in the 600 block of Hot Springs Road on three misdemeanor charges of failure to appear in court for traffic violations. Bail: $1,044.
Those arrested and facing charges are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.