ST. GEORGE — A couple was arrested after officers responded to a welfare check in the parking lot of a hotel in St. George last week.
On Thursday morning, responding officers encountered 43-year-old Brian Clifford West and 28-year-old Tori Anne Chidester standing in the parking lot of the hotel on Brigham Road next to a Honda passenger car. Officers noted there was a small child standing next to them.
According to charging documents filed with the court, while speaking to West, officers noticed he was acting erratically and was pacing around, and when he was asked to sit down, the suspect ran off, jumped a block wall and then continued fleeing on foot.
He was caught within minutes and arrested for evading and shortly thereafter, he was transported back to the parking lot.
Meanwhile, officers spoke to Chidester, who had three active warrants, and she reportedly admitted to having drugs in the vehicle and said they were located near the passenger’s side compartment and the floorboard.
She was advised she would be placed under arrest as soon as a guardian for the child arrived on scene.
During a search of the Honda, in the back seat area where the 4-year-old child had been, officers allegedly found a plastic bag that contained a bindle of suspected methamphetamine and more than 40 fentanyl pills inside of a metal container under the seat.
The officer also noted that fentanyl pills “have become increasingly popular and have led to a significant rise in overdoses and deaths due to potency.”
Officers also recovered numerous paraphernalia-related items in the car.
While speaking to police, Chidester reportedly told officers the drugs did not belong to her but that she was asked to hide them, and officers also noted the substances were “found within immediate reach of the four year old girl.”
The two suspects have extensive criminal histories that include convictions for drug distribution, leading investigators to suspect they were not only using the pills, but were also selling them.
Officers also found evidence to suggest that just prior to officers arriving, the suspects were smoking suspected fentanyl inside of the vehicle with the child in the car.
Both suspects were arrested and later transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing multiple charges, including one second-degree felony count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and child endangerment, a third-degree felony. Each also faces misdemeanor drug and paraphernalia charges.
West faces an additional felony charge for evading, while Chidester faces two additional charges, including third-degree possession of a controlled substance and tampering with evidence, a misdemeanor.
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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