ST. GEORGE — A man who was still out on bond for a case filed earlier this year has been arrested and charged with forgery and drug charges following a traffic stop early Friday morning.
According to charging documents filed with the court, the incident started shortly after 1:30 a.m. when a patrol officer noticed a vehicle leaving a residence in a trailer park located on North Dixie Downs Drive that authorities suspected was a drug house.
Police had received reports of multiple individuals coming and going from the home at all hours, and authorities also received information that drugs were purportedly being used both in the residence as well as an outside shed in the backyard.
Previous to the vehicle leaving the residence, officers ran a check on the license plate and discovered the car was registered to Renee Walker, who was wanted out of Wyoming on an outstanding arrest warrant on a conspiracy charge that was extraditable from Utah.
After the car left the trailer park and the driver failed to signal before entering the roadway, the officer initiated the traffic stop.
Besides Walker, the car had three occupants, one of whom was 34-year-old Jake Russell Dorrity, who lived at the residence on Dixie Downs with other family members.
Walker was detained on the warrant while a K-9 was deployed to conduct a free-air sniff around the vehicle. The animal indicated to the possible presence of narcotics and a search was conducted. Inside of the car officers found drug paraphernalia and syringes containing a brown residue consistent with heroin.
Dorrity allegedly told officers he had used methamphetamine earlier that night but denied there were any illegal narcotics inside of his residence. Upon further questioning, he admitted there were used syringes inside of the residence and also in the shed, the report states, adding that he also said he had a pipe but claimed he flushed it down the toilet the night before.
Armed with a search warrant, officers searched the residence on North Dixie Downs Drive. Inside the suspect’s room, they located multiple glass pipes with suspected methamphetamine on them, multiple used syringes and caps with a brown substance consistent with heroin. Officers also found a counterfeit $100 bill.
When confronted, the report states the suspect told offices that other people at the residence could come and go and use his room, which is when the officer explained to Dorrity that it was his room and his responsibility. A background check also revealed multiple arrests and convictions involving drug offenses.
The officer also noted that Dorrity was out on bond on a drug case filed in June, and any further charges could possibly revoke the bond. That case was filed in January after the suspect was stopped by a St. George Police officer who saw him driving, knowing the suspect had a suspended license.
He was then arrested for drug possession and DUI after officers alleged several indicators of recent drug use, as indicated in the court records.
Following the incident on Friday, the suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing third-degree felony forgery as well as misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia. Officers also noted Dorrity was suspected of using drugs in a home situated in a neighborhood where there are children present.
Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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