Carson City deputies arrest men for possession of drugs, bottled mercury

A 31-year-old Gardnerville man and a 29-year-old transient man were arrested in the area of the Goni Water Tower after deputies were alerted to a man in a vehicle next to the tower who appeared to be incapacitated and found they were allegedly using drugs and were in possession of several bottles of mercury.

Dennis Wade Hall and Derek Peterson were arrested after deputies arrived on scene and located the vehicle and two passengers inside. Deputies spoke to the occupants through the open passenger side window. The passenger, later identified as Peterson, appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance as he was making slow movements and was slow to react to questions.

Hall also appeared under the influence, deputies said, but he was making “quicker, more deliberate comments” and he had substantial facial sores common with methamphetamine use.

Deputies asked what they were doing, and they said they had spent the night in the car. Deputies asked if they had bene using drugs; Peterson did not answer, and Hall said no.

Deputies said they did not believe their answer, and asked if they had any drugs in the car. They again said no, but deputies could see a hypodermic needle sitting in Peterson’s lap.

After running their identifications, deputies learned that Peterson had a felony fugitive from justice warrant out of Texas.

Deputies had Derek exit the vehicle and he was placed into handcuffs. On his person deputies located a multi tool/knife on his belt, and a black container with pieces of cotton with a brown substance believed to be heroin, according to the report.

Hall was asked to exit the vehicle and Hall asked deputies to get him his shoes which were in the backseat. When deputies opened the backdoor to retrieve the shoes, they saw a loaded hypodermic needle on the floorboard.

Both admitted to using heroin intravenously, and Peterson admitted to using heroin as well; however, both denied ownership of the hypodermic needle, and deputies placed both under arrest for possession.

During a search of the vehicle deputies located: a knife with a brown substance on the blade, believed to be heroin; a black digital scale with a white substance and brown tar substance on it, believed to be methamphetamine and heroin; a plastic bag with smaller baggies in it; a small bag with multiple different drugs including 50 white pills with the letters G 31, an unknown greenish white powder in it, a piece of aluminum foil with a single small white paper square, believed to be LSD; in a green backpack on the passenger’s seat, deputies located another digital scale with white powder and brown tar substance on it.

Deputies found a gray backpack and discovered a small glass jar, a glass eye dropper and a glass square with an attached child proof cap. Inside the containers deputies found what they believe to be Mercury. Because mercury is toxic, Carson Fire was called to the scene.

Peterson later told deputies he’d discovered the mercury at an old mine and had collected it in the containers.

Hazmat disposed of the mercury through proper hazmat cleanup procedures.

Dennis Wade Hall was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $3,637

Derek Ryan Peterson was arrested for fugitive from justice warrant, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $253,637

— A 40-year-old transient man was arrested in the area of Roop and Northridge for felony uttering a forged instrument, felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license, fictitious registration, and no insurance.

Michael Edwin Lawson was arrested after deputies stopped the vehicle, and K-9 deputy Ivo was dispatched to the scene to conduct an exterior free air sniff of the vehicle.

Ivo gave a positive alert to the presence of drug odor and deputies located a methamphetamine pipe under the driver’s seat.

Deputies learned that the license plate on his vehicle did not belong to the vehicle, making it fictitious. After finding the pipe, deputies asked if there was anything else illegal on his person, and he stated that the money in his wallet was fake. Deputies located a $100 bill and two $50 bills “resembling U.S. currency;” however, they did not match size, texture, or have the correct marking of real bills.

He was taken into custody without issue.

Bail: $10,123

— A 58-year-old transient man was arrested after allegedly violating an Extended Protection Order.

Deputies were dispatched to a Poole Way residence on suspicion of a court order protection order violation. The reporting party said that the man walked up to the driveway and was peeking through the windows of the residence.

Deputies arrived on scene and found the man in the driveway of the residence, and arrested him.

Bail: $3,137

Warrants:

— A 41-year-old Carson City woman was arrested on a violation of a suspended sentence warrant out of Carson City, issued in November of 2019.

Bail: $3,000 cash only

— A transient man was arrested on a New River Township warrant for contempt of court.

Bail: $500 cash only

All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.