Images from the 1st Annual Awards Ceremony at the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office

What a great afternoon with our student buddies from Olathe Middle and High School. Thanks for coming to hang with us!

High-Risk Warrant Search Nets Firearms and Drugs

The Montrose County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) executed a high-risk search warrant yesterday in the 600 block of Spring Creek Road. The search uncovered an illegal quantity of suspected marijuana, a suspected marijuana concentrate lab, suspected methamphetamine, a stolen bicycle, one rifle, two handguns, drug paraphernalia, and possible evidence in an unrelated theft case being investigated by the MCSO. Six individuals were located in the residence; five individuals ultimately came out of the house. Martin Anthony Martinez was apprehended hiding under a bed at the residence and arrested on two known arrest warrants.

“This was a team effort,” said Lieutenant and SWAT Commander Ty Cox. “The MCSO had prior knowledge of both drug use at the residence and individuals who frequent the residence with known felony criminal activity to include firearms charges; that was the reason we decided to close Spring Creek Road and utilize both the MCSO’s and Montrose Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics Teams (SWAT). Today was a great example of quality law enforcement work from the initial investigation to the execution of the warrant.”

Last week, a deputy with the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop at South Selig Avenue and South Fourth Street. The stop uncovered two pounds of a liquid substance that tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine. Anthony Evans, was arrested for reckless driving, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under revocation, expired license plates, no proof of insurance, felony eluding, open container in a vehicle, and additional warrants. After further investigation, the deputy was able to obtain a search warrant for today’s residence as the suspected drugs were linked back to the residence.

With the assistance of the Montrose Police Department’s SWAT team, Montrose County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, MontroseFire District, and Colorado State Patrol, the team was able to remove additional suspected drugs from the residence today. The MCSO would like to thanks its partners for their assistance in helping to make the community a safer place.

At this time, additional charges are pending further investigation by the MCSO and the High Impact Target Team.

Montrose, CO– On Sunday morning around 10:47, a double fatality motor-vehicle off-road incident occurred on Transfer Road at mile marker 8.5. Both passengers were ejected. Both the driver Harold W. Emick III, a 66-year-old male from Olathe, Colo., and his passenger Sharon A. Lunsford, a 65-year-old female from Pearland, Texas, were pronounced dead at the scene and subsequently transferred to the Forensic Science Laboratory at Montrose Memorial Hospital. The case is under investigation by the Montrose Coroner’s Office of Medical Investigations and the Colorado State Patrol assisted by the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office. Autopsies are scheduled and the cause and manner of death are pending the results of the autopsies.

Montrose, COLO.—Montrose County School District RE1-J, Montrose County Sheriff’s Office, The Center for Mental Health, and the Montrose Police Department have partnered to bring the Salem-Keizer System of Assessing Student Threats to the region. The goal of the program is to provide regional school, law enforcement, and mental health providers a standardized process for threat assessment. The kick-off of this program creates a team of professionals—the Student Threat Assessment Team (STAT)—dedicated to creating a path of success for students at-risk. The community is invited to attend a presentation on the Salem-Keizer Threat Assessment System on Thursday from 9-11am at the Montrose County Event Center.

“This program places an emphasis on whole family health,” said Laura Byard, Regional Director for The Center for Mental Health. “Ongoing assessments will help families and students engage with services, break down barriers, and foster a collaborative effort for success.”

This week, professionals from across the region are receiving both Level I and Level II threat assessment training to learn how to complete a threat assessment. In the advanced training, team members will learn how to conduct an investigation and present the findings to the Student Threat Assessment Team. At a district level, trained professionals will be the eyes and ears for the program. In the event of a behavioral issue or indication of self-harm, case information will be gathered and look at the entire picture. Various indicators and questions will help determine the level of threat and work to establish supervision strategies and resources to help mitigate the threat and support the student. At that point, the team will meet to discuss the issues and determine a plan to help get the student back on a path to success.

“The threat assessments are critical to helping our youth and the community understand that the system is there to help support them. This is a community-oriented solution to a community problem. If students do not have the resources or a path for success in school, it is likely that law enforcement will eventually have contact with them as adults. The STAT wants to help work with these children when problems are first emerging to mitigate future issues. This threat assessment model is designed to help protect youth and the challenges many of them face today,” said Montrose County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Ted Valerio.

School District Director of Safety and Security, James Pavlich, echoed the sentiments regarding the importance of communication as he said, “In the past, a student at-risk either with behavior issues or suicidal indicators had the possibility to have several contacts with different agencies—school, mental health, and law enforcement. Each contact is often a cry for help and may not have been communicated to the other agencies, especially during summer months or in the years following graduation. This new system creates a team that meets to assess the student’s individual situation and factors that may be contributing to behavior issues, and creates a path back to success for the student.

Commander Matt Smith from the Montrose Police Department emphasized, “This system and training is a prevention-based model. It seeks to foster collaboration between community stakeholders, which is often a lacking component when addressing threats in our community. The most exciting aspects of this model for law enforcement are the front-end management of potential risks, and the supervision of those cases subsequent to their discovery.”

The program is presented by John Van Dreal, a school psychologist and director of security, safety, and risk management for the Salem-Keizer School District in Oregon. Mr. Van Dreal is an internationally recognized expert in threat assessment and a pioneer of multidisciplinary threat assessment. He has instructed and presented to education staff, mental health staff, and law enforcement officers from more than 300 educational institutions.

The community presentation will be held at the Montrose County Event Center (1036 7th Street) on Thursday, Sept. 12 from 9-11am. The presentation is free to the public and community leaders and organizers are encouraged to attend. Refreshments will be provided by the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office. The event will also be live-streamed on the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page (fb.com/MontroseCountySO).