The Buena Vista Police Department confiscated a substantial amount of suspected illegal narcotics during a recent burglary investigation.
On Thursday, Aug. 27, the Buena Vista Police Department was dispatched to A1 Storage on the report of a break-in to a storage unit with several items reported stolen, including numerous firearms.
Follow-up investigation by our officers resulted in the identification of a potential suspect, and the morning of Monday, August 31st, a search warrant was executed at 118 N. San Juan Ave. in the Town of Buena Vista.
Due to public safety and officer safety concerns, the Chaffee County Tactical Team was requested to assist in the execution of this warrant. The Chaffee County Tactical Team is a combined team with officers of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, the Salida Police Department, and the Buena Vista Police Department. The Buena Vista Police K9 Unit was also on-scene as an additional resource. Portions of N. San Juan Ave. were blocked off for a short time around 5:30 AM during the service of this warrant.
One person at 118 N. San Juan Ave. was detained for a short time and released with no charges. Another occupant of this residence, Buena Vista resident Jeremy Johnson, age 45, was placed under arrest. Johnson had two active warrants for his arrest unrelated to the burglary investigation. Officers of the BVPD conducted a search of the property, and numerous items from the storage unit were recovered, including several firearms.
Additionally, a substantial amount of suspected illegal narcotics were located at the property, including suspected methamphetamine and suspected heroin, as well as evidence of distribution of controlled substances.
Johnson was taken to the Chaffee County Detention Center where he was booked in on two outstanding warrants and on new charges of: Unlawful Distribution of a Schedule II Controlled Substance, a class 1 drug felony; Second Degree Burglary, a class 3 felony; Theft, a class 6 felony; Possession of a Weapon by a Previous Offender, a class 6 felony; Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, a class 1 drug misdemeanor; Criminal Mischief, a class 3 misdemeanor; Second Degree Criminal Trespass, a class 3 misdemeanor; and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a drug petty offense.
This was excellent police work by the officers of the BVPD as we’re short staffed right now, and all the officers worked diligently as a team to follow-up on this case where numerous pieces of stolen property were recovered, stolen firearms were taken off the streets, and extremely dangerous suspected controlled substances were kept from being distributed into the community.
Officers worked countless hours, some coming in on their days off or from vacation, to assist with this investigation. We want to also thank the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office and the Salida Police Department for their assistance with the tactical team, and the Buena Vista Fire Department and Chaffee County EMS for their support role during this operation.
