Confused caller leads deputies to Pinal County drophouse

Dec. 22, 2010 09:43 AM
The Arizona Republic/12 News Breaking News Team

A Pinal County Sheriff's Office dispatcher led deputies to a drop house after tracing two 911 calls from a confused man who said he was in the state of Delaware.

The calls came in around 7 p.m. Friday. The man on the calls sounded confused or intoxicated, spokesman Tim Gaffney said.

He mumbled his words as he spoke to the dispatcher and would not give his actual location, only saying he was in Delaware.

However, the dispatcher was able to determine the cell phone call came from the 1800 block of Diamondback Way in Maricopa, Gaffney said.

Deputies were sent for a welfare check on the residence, which smelled strongly of burning marijuana, according to Gaffney.

When the deputy knocked on the door, two males jumped out of the back window and took off running down the street. One man was caught after a pursuit on foot.

Deputies also found three other males and two females inside the home. Gaffney said all six detainees admitted to being Mexican citizens in the United States illegally.

They told deputies the man who escaped was smoking marijuana in the front bedroom before the deputies arrived on scene, but none admitted to making the 911 calls.

The six were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol for deportation.

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