Beaver City man arrested for felony warrants, multiple crimes across 2 counties

Stock image, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A man is in jail suspected of committing multiple felony crimes in Washington County, as well as a case involving the overdose of a woman who transported to the hospital in Beaver City that police suspect he was responsible for.

Chase Dee Humphreys, 27, Beaver City, booking photo taken in Washington County, Utah, April 27, 2020 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Chase Dee Humphreys, 27, Beaver City, made his first appearance in 5th District Court Friday in Washington County, where he faces multiple charges. He also has a no-bail warrant out of Beaver County that he will likely answer to once the Washington County charges are resolved.

The arrest stems from an incident shortly before 4 a.m. Monday when officers received information that Humphreys was wanted out of Beaver County by Adult Probation and Parole, as well as warrants out of Washington County where he “was a suspect in multiple crimes,” the officer noted in the probable cause statement filed with the court.

They also learned the suspect was staying at a local hotel on South Main Street in St. George and was reportedly armed with a loaded firearm.

Officers confirmed the suspect’s room number with the hotel desk clerk and began surveillance on the room while additional police units from St. George were called to the scene.

Shortly thereafter, the suspect was seen exiting the room where he was confronted by police in the stairwell of the hotel at gunpoint, which is when Humphreys told police his name was Chris, a friend of the suspect, and that “Chase was still in the room,” and according to the report, the suspect continued ignoring police commands and insisted he was not the suspect that police were looking for even as officers were taking him into custody.

“Once in handcuffs, Chase continued to state he was not Chase and we had the wrong person,” the officer recounted in the statement.

During a search prior to being transported to jail, officers allegedly found two baggies containing a brown substance consistent with heroin in one pocket, and in another pocket they found “a large plastic baggie” containing “a distributable amount” of white powder that appeared to be methamphetamine and later tested positive during a field test. The total weight of the powder came to 12 grams, police say.

Due to the suspect being a parolee and it being the second drug offense, the drug charge was enhanced to a first-degree felony.

Inside the backpack, police located a digital scale and 69 smaller baggies that are commonly used to package drugs for sale, two identification cards in other individuals’ names and a check made out to the suspect for more than $400 that appeared to be forged, as “the original name on the check was removed but still visible,” the officer noted.

The officers contacted the issuer of the check who confirmed with police that the check was not made out to the suspect, but to a repair company for a door repair.

The suspect was initially booked on the outstanding warrants out of Washington and Beaver Counties, as well as a probation hold. Later, Humphreys was charged for the alleged offenses at the hotel, including first-degree felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, third-degree felony possession and felony forgery. He was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of another’s identifying documents and possession of paraphernalia.

One of the warrants the suspect was being held on involved an incident reported April 14 in St. George, where officers were dispatched to a theft reported at a residence on East Bluff View Drive after a woman called police reporting that her credit card and 9 mm handgun were reportedly stolen.

Officers obtained the serial number to the firearm and bank statements outlining more than $600 in fraudulent transactions that were allegedly processed through her account. Two of the transactions came from the Washington City Walmart.

The officer entered the handgun into the national crime database as stolen and then headed to the Walmart to follow up with the store’s asset protection team.

At Walmart, the officer obtained transaction records and surveillance footage from both days the card was reportedly used, from which the officer took the footage and a screenshot that was collected as evidence.

The woman was able to identify the suspect in the video as Humphreys, telling officers that the suspect in the footage was wearing a hat that belonged to her.

Charges were submitted to the Washington County Attorney’s Office and were filed the following day and include second-degree felony theft of a firearm, third-degree felony possession of a financial card and a misdemeanor theft by deception charge.

The warrant agents referred to out of Beaver County involves an incident reported in September of last year, when Adult Probation and Parole Agents received information that Humphreys allegedly gave a woman two shots of methamphetamine. Shortly thereafter, she was transported to the hospital to be treated for an overdose of the drug.

Beaver County Correctional Facility, Sheriff’s Office, Beaver City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News

According to police, the information was later corroborated through jail phone calls that were monitored by the agents.

The following day, police searched the suspect’s residence and allegedly located baggies containing methamphetamine and narcotics “also packaged for distribution,” agents noted in court records, along with a small amount of marijuana.

The suspect was arrested and transported to Beaver County Jail where he was booked on three second-degree felony counts of distribution of a controlled substance and third-degree possession of a controlled substance.

Three months later, Humphrey’s pleaded guilty to two of the distribution charges while the remaining were dismissed under the terms of the plea agreement. He was given credit for time served and released from jail into a treatment program and then placed on probation.

Two weeks ago, a no-bail warrant was issued by authorities in Beaver County after Humphreys was kicked out of the recovery program for attempting to manipulate a urinalysis by “using synthetic urine,” the probation report says.

The suspect remains in custody on $32,500 bail on the Washington County charges and the no-bail warrant out of Beaver County and is scheduled to appear in 5th District Court on July 7.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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