Carson City man arrested on felony charges after scamming police

A 24-year-old Carson City man was arrested Friday night on multiple felony charges when he tried to escape with $850 from deputies after agreeing to be a drug informant for the department.

Duffy Thomas, of Carson City, had allegedly agreed to be a confidential informant for the Carson City Special Enforcement Team to buy an ounce of methamphetamines from a source, after he had been arrested earlier Friday afternoon. According to the arrest report, Thomas was given a police wire to wear and $850 to buy the drugs with after agreeing to be an informant.

Around 4:50 p.m., deputies heard Thomas talking to his two females who were later identified as his mother and his sister. Thomas told his mother to give him a hug and pressed against her, muffling his microphone. It was then that the deputies believed they heard Thomas’s mother asking him if he was going to “rip off the cops?”

Thomas’s mother and sister walked away and Thomas walked a short distance and disappeared from the officers’ sight. Then the microphone went dead, the deputies said.

Deputies searched the apartment building and nearby lots where Thomas had been walking, and found his mother and sister in one of the apartments. They told deputies that they didn’t know where he had gone.

Just a few minutes later, deputies arrested Thomas on the 1700 block of North Edmonds, wearing black capri pants and a black sweat jacket with brown fur and a brunette wig that was later identified as belonging to his sister. Thomas was uncooperative as deputies tried to put him into the deputy’s car, and he attempted to kick out the windows of the vehicle he was being detained in.

When Thomas was detained, he didn’t have the wire or the money that was given to him by deputies.

The officers searched the residence where Thomas’s mother and sister were and found the money as well as a disassembled wire shoved into the trash can. When they questioned Thomas’s mother and sister, the women continually changed their story about how they ended up with the $850 from Thomas. Thomas’s sister denied giving him her clothes to change into, claiming that in the bathroom, she had completely changed out of the clothes that she had been wearing and left them on the floor, where Thomas had then found them and changed into them. Thomas’s mother claimed that he had given her the money as he was being put into the patrol car.

Thomas was charged with possession of a controlled substance, two counts of grand larceny for stealing the $850 and the wire, escape of a felony prisoner and obstruction. Sarah Thomas was arrested and charged with aiding an escape of a felon prisoner for giving him her clothes, escape-concealing a felon prisoner, and assisting in the escape of a felon prisoner. His bail was set at $77,800. Her bail was set at $55,000.

Follow reporter Taylor Pettaway on Twitter at @TaylorNVAppeal.