No charges were filed after an armed sheriff’s employee got into a dispute at a Cortez church over a missing marijuana plant.
In a three-page report, Cortez Police Department Officer Mark Adkins wrote that he responded to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 110 W. North St., at 12:12 p.m. Oct. 10, after a woman reported being held at gunpoint. She claimed that a Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office employee accused of her stealing a marijuana plant that belonged to her roommate.
“I’m homeless, where would I put a marijuana plant?” the woman reportedly posed to Adkins.
A witness told authorities that a “heated” argument occurred at the church’s soup line after someone identified as an armed sheriff’s employee exited a white SUV. The witness said the handgun never left its holster.
The sheriff’s employee, identified only by her first name, said she invited the homeless woman into her home and offered her a meal. Soon after, she said, the marijuana plant went missing.
Adkins noted in his report that the sheriff’s employee admitted confronting the homeless woman after seeing her in the church’s soup line, but she denied pointing the weapon.
Her roommate reported that a friend saw the homeless woman and another male suspect steal the marijuana plant.
Adkins wrote in his report that the case lacked sufficient evidence to file charges.
