MOAB, Utah, Feb. 14, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Denver man was arrested after he allegedly trashed a charter school cafeteria in Moab and was in possession of a gun.
A probable cause statement from Moab’s 7th District Court said Charles Gregory Gee, 56, was booked into Grand County Jail and is facing charges of third-degree felony possession of dangerous weapon by a restricted person, class A misdemeanor possession of a firearm on school premises, class A misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance marijuana/spice, class B misdemeanor disrupting operation of a school, class B misdemeanor carrying a dangerous weapon under the influence of alcohol/drugs and class B misdemeanor use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
Officers were dispatched to Moab Charter School Wednesday on a male subject “trashing a room that was being set up for an event,” the probable cause statement said. While en route to the call another trooper, Trooper Evans, advised dispatch that he was already in the area and asked dispatch for the description of the subject.
Dispatch advised that the man was wearing a black messenger bag with a key chain, and had dark hair and a dark puffy coat. He had a small white and brown dog with him, the statement said.
Evans started looking around the area and located the subject just around the corner from the school on 300 East, with the white and brown dog. Evans made contact with the subject and asked him if he was just over at the school. The subject advised yes and that there must be a misunderstanding.
“Trooper Evans then asked the subject if he has anything illegal or dangerous like weapons and the subject advised that he had two guns in the bag,” the statement said. “Trooper Evans then asked the subject if he could secure the weapons in his [patrol] vehicle while they talked. The subject advised yes but could he throw something away along with his coat.”
Evans advised the subject that he would be able to throw the items away after the weapons were secured. The subject then open up a small black case which Evans advised contained a silver-like pipe. Evans took the weapons to his patrol vehicle to secure them and the subject threw the small black case and his coat in the garbage” which appeared to be odd to Trooper Evans considering it was raining outside,” the statement said.
The initial arresting officer as well as another officer arrived on scene and the arresting officer went to Evans’ vehicle and pulled out the first pistol which was a Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum loaded with all five cylinders. The pistol case that the 44 Magnum was in also contained two additional five-round fully loaded speed loaders. The second case contained a medium-size Ziploc bag with hundreds of rounds of 22 long rifle ammo and two flashlights. The other pistol was not found.
Evans and the arresting officer went back to the school and located a white Dodge pickup with Colorado plates, which is where the subject drivers’ license was from, and the license plate came back to the suspect when it was run by dispatch. Based on the subject admitting that he had two pistols the vehicle was secured and a tow truck was called.
Evans and the arresting officer then met with the director of the Charter School and she said that the subject had came into the school and sat down in the office, where there were other people taking part in a mentor program.
“One of the other teachers asked our subject if he was part of the mentor program and the subject said yes,” the statement said. “The subject then went with the other mentor personnel over to the cafeteria where they were setting up for an event. The subject then started trashing the area and people started leaving the room.”
The subject had taken some mats that were set up and he had made a circle around himself and the director opened up the mats and asked the subject to leave as he was not there with anyone.
“The subject started slowly picking up his stuff and other staff members started coming back in and so the director advised the subject again to hurry up and leave that he could not be there anymore and he needed to leave now,” the statement said. “The director then started getting closer to the subject, almost pushing him out, and the subject left.”
Multiple other officers started arriving on scene and officers cleared the cafeteria and began to search it.
Evans also went back to the garbage can where the suspect had thrown away the small black case and the coat and it was found the black case also contained marijuana.
The suspect was then placed under arrest. The vehicle was towed to the Moab Fire Station until officers could secure a warrant to search for the other weapon. Officers later served search warrants on the vehicle and Gee’s hotel room and recovered another gun, according to police.
It doesn’t appear that Gee had any connection with the school. His bail has been set at $10,000.
