ST. GEORGE — A man and woman were arrested in Mesquite Friday after police say they were found to be in possession of a stolen vehicle with “burglary tools” and methamphetamine and heroin inside.
Update April 20 at 5:40 p.m. William Clark reached out to St. George News to explain what happened from his perspective. The report has been updated to include his account.
William Clark, 31, of Cedar City, and Joslin Botelho, 28, of Las Vegas, have been charged with multiple felonies relating to drug possession and auto theft.
Working on a report of a stolen vehicle possibly being in the Mesquite area, officers located the vehicle in a grocery store parking lot at approximately 6 p.m. Friday, according to a news release issued by Mesquite Police Department.
After confirming the vehicle was stolen out of Las Vegas, according to the news release, officers found one of the suspects inside the vehicle allegedly trying to swallow heroin and meth.
“That is definitely not true,” Clark told St. George News Thursday, explaining that he has no idea why police thought drugs were being swallowed.
The other suspect was found inside the grocery store, and both Clark and Botelho were subsequently taken into custody.
“Inside of the vehicle, officers located multiple items of drug paraphernalia, tools used for committing burglaries, crystal methamphetamine, and heroin,” the news release states.
Clark told St. George News he was unaware of any drugs in the vehicle and did not know it was stolen.
“I asked for a ride from Las Vegas to Mesquite to pick up my car,” Clark said. “I got in a Honda not knowing it was stolen – not knowing there’s drugs in the car.”
He said they dropped one other person off at a casino before heading to the grocery store.
“I did not knowingly or intentionally drive a stolen car,” Clark said, “and I did not knowingly or intentionally drive a car with drugs in it.”
Clark and Botelho were each charged with one felony count of possession of a stolen vehicle, two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance and one misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools.
Both suspects were transported and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.
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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No idea that the car was stolen, and no idea that there were drugs.
Sounds legit.