South Lake Tahoe man arrested on theft and drug charges

A 38-year-old South Lake Tahoe man was arrested early Saturday for felony suspicion of attempted commercial burglary and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

William Jack Phelps was taken into custody in the 4200 block of South Carson Street.

According to the arrest report, a security guard contacted the sheriff’s office regarding a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of Big Lots, 4215 South Carson Street.

Deputies arrived at the location and found a Jeep occupied by a man who told deputies he was waiting for a friend who was returning merchandise at the shopping center.

The deputy asked if he had anything illegal in vehicle. The driver gave the deputy a piece of burnt tinfoil and said it had been used by him and the suspect to smoke heroin.

Due to the time of call, the deputy found it unusual for the suspect to be returning property to a department store. The deputy asked what they were actually doing. The driver said he gave the suspect a ride to Carson City and that they didn’t have enough gas to return back home in South Lake Tahoe.

The driver said Phelps told him he would take care of it and began digging through trash prior to entering the store.

The driver gave the deputy consent to search the vehicle where inside he found miscellaneous clothing items with tags still attached, and multiple boxes of prenatal and vitamin supplements, the report states.

The driver stated he did not know if the clothing was stolen but stated the boxed vitamins were stolen, the arrest report states.

While searching the vehicle deputies made contact with Phelps inside Ross.

Inside, the man had a large amount of store property in his possession and had not exited yet. He was searched where deputies found a “tooter straw” commonly used to inhale narcotics on him as well as a large amount of store receipts.

Phelps was read his Miranda warning and advised he had been dealing with a heroin addiction for years and has an extensive history with stealing. He admitted the vitamins inside the vehicle were stolen. Based on interviews, possession of receipts, merchandise and possession of drug paraphernalia, he was arrested.

Among the multiple receipts were from the following Carson City stores: Ross, Walmart, JC Penny, Kohl’s and Walgreens with dates from October to Dec. 15.

Also found was a MasterCard that belonged to Phelps. None of the card numbers matched the receipt numbers. Bail: $21,137.

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