Eureka Police arrested a 54-year-old Jefferson City man after a substance believed to be methamphetamine reportedly was found in rooms he was renting at the America’s Best Inn, 1725 W. Fifth St. The man was arrested after he allegedly had an encounter with a prostitute at the motel and then called police because his pickup was stolen from the parking lot, police reported.
The man called police at about 7 a.m. July 20 and said his 2015 Ford F-350, along with tools and clothing, were stolen between midnight and 6:45 a.m. The pickup was valued at about $4,500, but no estimate for the tools and clothes left in the pickup was provided, according to the report.
A motel employee told officers the man had rented two rooms, and the man initially told police the other room was for a female friend who left early in the morning. Later, however, the man allegedly told officers the woman was a prostitute he had hired through a website service, according to the report.
In surveillance video, a different man was seen at about 1:45 a.m. leaving one of the room’s the Jefferson City man had rented and then walking to the pickup and trying to get inside it. When he couldn’t, he returned to the room and appeared to use a key fob to unlock the doors to the pickup and then drove away from the motel, according to the report.
Officers then searched the rooms the man had rented and allegedly found a syringe containing a brown substance in one of the rooms and a straw with white residue next to it in the other room. The man said those items belonged to the woman he met through the website, Eureka Police reported.
An officer then searched bags in the room, which the man said were his, and allegedly found a white crystal-like substance believed to be meth inside one of them, the report said.
The man was arrested and taken to the Police Station, where he was booked and released pending application for warrants. Depending on results of the drug analysis, Eureka Police will seek charges against the man through the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for possession of a controlled substance, Lt. Michael Tapp said.
As of July 23, the pickup had not been recovered, and neither the woman nor the other man had been identified, Tapp said. Anyone with information about the incident should call Eureka Police at 636-938-6600.