Ivins woman with a 40-case criminal history arrested on obstruction charge

Stock image | Photo by MattGush/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An Ivins woman with an extensive criminal background is back in jail after she was allegedly caught erasing incriminating texts by Adult Probation and Parole agents during a home compliance check on another parolee.

Kassandra Dittmer, 32, of Ivins, booking photo taken In Washington County, Utah, Nov. 20, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Kassandra Dittmer, 32, was arrested by Adult Probation and Parole agents conducting a home compliance visit involving a man who was on parole for unrelated cases.

During the visit, agents found Dittmer, who was on probation at the time, also inside of the home. According to charging documents filed with the court, while one of the agents was inspecting Dittmer’s cellphone, which was conducted as part of her probation, he reportedly found texts relating to suspected drug distribution and took photos of the message threads.

However, he was interrupted by needing to assist “the immediate threat” posed by a second suspect who was being arrested at the time and he placed the cellphone on the ground. When the agent returned to pick up the phone, the report states, it was no longer there, which is when he noticed that Dittmer had grabbed the phone in his absence.

The agent took the phone, and when he returned to the messaging application he had just reviewed minutes before, the chronological order of the message thread led him to believe that the texts he previously photographed had been deleted.

The agent placed Dittmer in handcuffs, and when questioned about the missing messages, she allegedly told the agent she was “freaked out.” While being transported to jail, the agent wrote, Dittmer allegedly admitted to erasing the messages but said her actions did not constitute a probation violation since the agent had taken photos beforehand, telling him that “she did nothing wrong.”

She was later charged with third-degree felony obstruction of justice.

Dittmer was also booked on three no-bail warrants issued out of 5th District Court, which illuminates the fact that this is not her first brush with the law.

Court records also reveal that Dittmer has an extensive criminal history involving more than 40 felony and misdemeanor cases and convictions dating back to 2005.

One of the no-bail warrants involved an arrest that took place at the police station in Santa Clara in September of last year after the Dittmer showed up to speak with police officers about a previous unrelated incident and obtain a copy of a report.

The suspect, however, was completely unaware that police had just obtained a search warrant for her home and her person following a months-long investigation.

“Out of the blue, she walked into the police station,” Santa Clara-Ivins Police Sgt. Jaron Studley told St. George News during a previous interview.

Studley said when police told Dittmer they had the search warrant and that she was being detained, she began yelling and screaming, and as she was being searched, she “blurted out she had heroin in her pocket,” which officers found along with syringes and other paraphernalia.

Kassandra Dittmer, 31, of Ivins, booking photo taken In Washington County, Utah, Sept. 3, 2019 | File photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Dittmer was transferred to Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane for the initial drug and paraphernalia offenses, and a number of other charges were added following the search of her home. Studley said that neighbors and bystanders cheered when officers arrived at the home later that same day to serve the search warrant and that the number of drug-related calls to dispatch dropped significantly shortly after Dittmer’s arrest.

During a sentencing hearing in July, she pleaded guilty to a felony drug distribution charge while nine other charges were dismissed. She was sentenced to serve 87 days in jail, time she had already served, and she was placed on 36-months of probation.

On Aug. 27, agents were contacted by Santa Clara-Ivins Police officers reporting that Dittmer had been arrested when the house she was living in was raided by the Washington County Drug Task Force, and agents allegedly found heroin in her bedroom.

She was released Oct. 1 after posting a $2,500 bond. That case is still pending with the courts.

Following Friday’s arrest, Dittmer remains in custody without bail.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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