ST. GEORGE — A suspect with a long criminal history in Washington County was arrested by U.S. Marshal Service agents for her alleged involvement in a federal case involving an explosion and fire reported at a downtown Salt Lake City apartment complex last year.
Brianna Valiere Westre, 22, of St. George is in custody in Purgatory Correctional Facility following an arrest on Friday by the U.S. Marshals Office on a federal warrant issued out of U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City hours earlier. The defendant faces two federal charges, including attempt to manufacture a controlled substance and endangering human life while illegally manufacturing a controlled substance – aiding and abetting.
The warrant was issued in connection with a case filed in federal court in March of last year following an explosion and fire reported at the defendant’s apartment complex on Jan. 23, 2021 – a residence that federal prosecutors say was a 151-unit apartment complex at360 South and 400 West in the center of Salt Lake City.
According to federal documents filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jean Clifford-Salisbury shortly after the incident, Westre and her co-defendant, 26-year-old Ryan Joseph Cahouet, were using the apartment as a “manufacturing site” to make DMT, or N,N- Dimethyltryptamine, which is a hallucinogen that is found in a number of plant materials, but can also be extracted or synthetically produced in clandestine labs, the DEA says.
It was the highly-flammable chemicals used during an illicit extraction process, prosecutors allege, that set off the explosion and fire that caused so much damage it not only rendered the suspect’s apartment uninhabitable but also destroyed a second unit where the occupants were forced to vacate their home. An elevator was also severely damaged in the blaze.
The federal prosecutor also noted that investigators handling the initial explosion said the only reason more lives or property were not lost was the result of the excellent work on the part of the fire department. Luck also contributed to the favorable outcome, Salisbury added, since the apartment building was a newer structure that was only a few years old and was equipped with an excellent sprinkler system.
Detectives found a number of buckets filled with hazardous chemicals used in the extraction process of DMT during a search of the suspect’s apartment, as well as other materials that were at varying stages of the process.
Investigators also determined the chemicals used to extract DMT were highly flammable – so much so that a hazmat team was deployed to assist with the decontamination of the apartment.
Through the course of the investigation, agents also learned that Westre was aware of the dangers associated with the manufacture of DMT, based on several recorded phone calls she made from jail following her arrest, during which, the indictment says, Westre allegedly told several friends and family that she and her co-defendant “had planned to clean the apartment of the operation in the coming days.”
In addition to the evidence collected in connection with the DMT extraction operation, agents also recovered a tent with fertilizer purportedly used for growing marijuana plants, as well as a scale, vacuum sealers with bags containing suspected heroin residue, large amounts of lighter fuel, a pressurized whipped cream dispenser with a hand-written label to “huff” the chemicals.
Detectives also recovered 9mm casings scattered throughout the unit, as well as a bulk container of codeine cough syrup, three prescription bottles of Ambien, MDMA, a synthetic stimulant and hallucinogen, and the also recovered bongs and rolled U.S. currency bills.
When agents ran the defendant’s criminal history they learned of several felony drug cases filed against Westre within a year and a half of the March, 2021 arrest; offenses that federal prosecutors said were increasingly serious, including a case filed two weeks prior in St. George involving felony child endangerment, possession of another’s identifying documents, weapons and drug charges.
In fact, the government noted, the defendant was on pretrial release with five pending cases in 5th District Court in St. George when the indictment was filed in March of last year.
Moreover, in the days following the indictment being filed, a warrant was issued for the suspect’s arrest, and she was aware of the warrant. But, during several recorded jail calls, officers could hear Westre’s co-defendant “repeatedly urge her to turn herself in,” which the defendant failed to do, prosecutors allege.
Federal court records also indicate that during a number of other phone conversations with her co-defendant made from the jail, investigators say Westre allegedly “laughed at the government” for filing the federal complaint and warrant while she was still in custody on the state cases.
Following her release on the local cases, prosecutors say the defendant started bouncing between Cache County and Washington County to avoid being arrested on the federal charges in a case that Westre treated “with a disturbing lack of seriousness,” Salisbury noted.
The order closed by saying the defendant’s actions over the past year and the escalating nature of her offenses, as well as the disregard for court orders and her “complete disregard for human life and the safety of others,” indicates that West poses “an overwhelming danger to the community if released.”
Less than two weeks before the explosion in Salt Lake City, Westre’s codefendant, Cahouet, was arrested in St. George on a warrant issued out of Salt Lake City for aggravated assault and riot charges. He was booked into jail in Washington County and was released a few days later when a judge from up north removed the no bail hold and he was able to post a bond.
In that case, the charges were filed in connection with an incident reported five months earlier that involved three young men who were beaten severely during a house party in northern Utah. That case is still pending with the courts.
On Feb. 18, 2021, one month after the apartment explosion, Cahouet was indicted in federal court.
The federal case against Westre and Cahouet is scheduled for a jury trial to be held in Salt Lake City next month.
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