Police Beat

Tom Collins
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 3, 1996

Two residents of Coronado Residence Hall were arrested Tuesday on drug possession charges.
University police responded to the hall when the smell of marijuana was reported coming from a third floor room.
Police knocked on the door and informed one the residents, Melissa A. Canvasser, 19, that they were investigating a report of marijuana use. The other roommate, Lena J. Lurie, 18, was in the shower.
Canvasser told police she had been burning incense and she did not know that it was against hall rules.
Police told Canvasser some drug users burn incense to cover the odor of their drug use and asked to look around the room. They found nothing.
When Lurie arrived from the shower police told the roommates that drug users will occasionally put their drugs in refrigerators. They asked if they could look in the fridge.
Lurie told police they had a bag of narcotic mushrooms in the refrigerator. She said a friend had asked the roommates to hold the bag, because he had been in trouble for drugs before.
Both roommates said they had not used the mushrooms.
Canvassser told police she had wanted to dispose of the bag. Neither roommate would reveal their friends name.
Lurie and Canvasser were arrested on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs and booked into Pima County Jail.
A bag containing 3.2 grams of a "brown vegetable-like substance," was placed into evidence.

A female student called university police to report harassment by her ex-boyfriend.
The student told police she and the man had begun a relationship in March, when both lived in California. She told police the man decided to enroll at the UA after she did.
The student and the man ended their relationship in June, but remained friends, the student told police.
On Sept. 19 the student went to a party at the man's house, where man became upset.The student told police she was afraid the man would hit her.
On Sept. 27, the man telephoned the student and the student told him to leave her alone.
Monday, the man came to her Coronado Residence Hall room, 822 E. Fifth St. The student had to ask the man to leave several times.
"I was very scared last night," she told police.
The student said she did not want to pursue harassment charges but was concerned about her safety.
She did express interest in a protection order, according to police reports. She was told to call police if further incidents occurred.

A painting was stolen from an exhibit in the Art building, 1031 N. Olive Road.
A female employee told university police she had last seen the painting hanging Sunday at 5 p.m. She noticed the painting missing Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.
The painting was one of several exhibited in the third floor of the building.
The 36-by-48-inch, oil-on-canvas painting of a woman with her face in sunlight is valued at $800.

Two items of clothing were taken Sunday from the laundry room in Apache-Santa Cruz Residence Hall, 1420 E. Fifth St.
A female student said she put her laundry in the dryer at 6 p.m. When she returned at 7:30 p.m., another woman was using her machine, and her laundry was in a pile on top of the dryer.
When she returned to her room, she discovered a pair of denim shorts and sweat pants missing.
The value of the Gap brand clothing was not listed in police reports.

An abandoned car was towed Monday from the lot near the Arizona Health Sciences Cardiology Unit, 1827 E. Elm St.
A male employee told university police the car had been in the lot for three weeks.
The owner of the 1972 orange Ford Pinto could not be reached by police, but a computer check showed the car was uninsured.
The car was parked with its windows rolled down and it appeared to be in poor condition, reports stated.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.