North Oracle Road
July 18, 2:10 a.m.
A man walking around late at night refused to admit he was doing anything illegal...until what he claimed was a "snot rag" turned out to conceal a meth pipe, according to an Oro Valley Police Department report.
An officer noticed the man suspiciously standing in the middle of a dark, empty intersection at about 2 a.m. and followed him in his patrol vehicle as the man walked quite a distance. When the man finally stopped outside an apartment complex, the officer detained him him for questioning.
The subject said he was staying at a friend's apartment and he simply liked going for long walks at night "to cool down...and...clear his head," refusing to acknowledge there was anything wrong with that. He consented to a search of his backpack, saying there was nothing illegal inside.
When the officer found a large, rolled-up cloth in the bag (almost immediately after opening it), the man said it was "just a snot rag."
But when the officer made the man unroll the cloth—possibly not wanting to touch it in case it did have "snot" on it—inside it was found a glass pipe with what appeared to be crystal methamphetamine residue. The officer soon found another such pipe in the right front pocket of the man's shorts, followed by another such pipe in his left front pocket.
The man immediately denied he knew the pipes were there...and then apparently decided to give up all pretenses, admitting he'd smoked meth regularly since 2004, had been smoking nonstop for four days and hadn't slept for two days.
He was cited and released for possession of drug paraphernalia.
