ST. GEORGE — A call reporting an intoxicated customer on New Year’s Eve led to the arrest of a man wanted in Colorado on a felony warrant connected to a kidnapping case filed by the Montezuma County Attorney’s Office in 2020.
The arrest was set in motion when officers were dispatched to a gas station in Washington City shortly after 9 p.m. on an incident involving a man who was reportedly intoxicated and attempting to purchase alcohol in the store.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, the suspect was then seen getting into a blue Toyota Scion just before responding officers pulled into the parking lot of the gas station and noticed a vehicle matching that description pulling out into traffic without its headlights on.
After an officer activated his emergency lights and pulled in behind the car to conduct a traffic stop, the driver of the Toyota reportedly continued a few blocks before pulling into a local car dealership and stopping.
Washington City Lt. Kory Klotz told St. George News the driver initially identified himself by one of his aliases and told the officer he had no driver’s license. He also told police “he didn’t need a license” to drive a car, Klotz added.
The officer noted in his report that there was a strong odor of alcohol while speaking to the suspect, as well as slow and slurring speech and bloodshot eyes.
The man allegedly told police he had “a couple of tall boys,” which are 32-ounce beers, and that he had gone to the gas station to pick up more beer.
Klotz said when asked to perform a field sobriety test, the suspect agreed but was “confrontational about it.” He added that the driver continued to be uncooperative during the exercises and then became more belligerent, telling officers they were violating his rights by making him perform the test.
After refusing to complete the exercises, the officer stopped the test and attempted to take the driver into custody. The suspect started walking toward his vehicle, the report states, and it took several officers to detain the suspect before he was handcuffed and placed in a patrol vehicle.
“The guy was quite a handful,” Klotz added.
During a search of the car, officers located a .22 caliber handgun behind the driver’s seat, which was prohibited as the suspect was a restricted person, as well as a scale, suspected marijuana and other paraphernalia.
The suspect was transported to the Washington City Police Department. A warrant was obtained for a blood draw since the suspect reportedly first refused the breathalyzer test. He later also refused the blood draw, even after the warrant was obtained, which resulted in an added charge.
While searching the database under the alias provided by the suspect, officers were able to positively identify the driver as 34-year-old Cody Deyon Crowder, of Washington City.
During a background check, officers found an active warrant issued out of Colorado in connection with a 2020 kidnapping case filed in Montezuma County.
St. George News reached out to Montezuma County Assistant District Attorney William Furse for further details on the case, who provided the affidavit outlining the series of events that led to the suspect being charged with second-degree felony kidnapping.
In that case, Crowder is accused of taking a child from the youngster’s grandmother, who also had full custody of the child at the time, and then left the state against court orders, according to police.
The grandmother had been the child’s primary caregiver and was awarded full custody after the youngster’s mother reportedly died from an overdose in 2019. Prior to the young mother’s death, Crowder was not listed on the birth certificate, nor had he had any contact with the child, the report states. Even after paternity was established the following year, the child remained with the grandmother who retained full custody.
After leaving the state, the court then issued an order for Crowder to return the child to Colorado. Unable to locate the suspect, authorities listed the child as missing with the national crime information center, as well as with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the information was posted on their website in July 2020.
Less than two months later, Crowder and the young child were located in Utah by the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, and the child was returned to Colorado. Shortly thereafter, the kidnapping charge was filed. On Dec. 2, 2020, a no-bail warrant was issued for the suspect’s arrest.
The warrant remained active for more than a year, until Crowder’s arrest on News Year’s Eve in Washington City.
The suspect was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility facing third-degree felony possession of a firearm by a restricted person, as well as possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, DUI, refusal to submit to a chemical test and interfering with an arresting officer.
He was also booked on the no-bail warrant out of Colorado that authorities in Washington City verified was still active and extraditable out of Utah.
On Monday, Crowder was formally charged and the case was filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office. The suspect remains in custody on the current charges and is being held without bail on the out-of-state warrant.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. 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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