Forgetting how to spell your name; the tell-tale sign you have a warrant

It can be hard always being on the run with warrants out for you, peeking out the curtain before going outside, looking over your shoulder to make sure you haven’t been spotted and one slight problem like a headlight out could result in your arrest because of the warrant.

We are always looking for people with warrants and create “targets” or people we “prioritize” on our wanted list, but we also make arrests on a regular basis when we encounter people with warrants for some other reason. Many of those times, it is the action of the wanted person that brings our attention to them. It is like they are holding up a sign that says, “check on this guy right here.”

We arrested a guy once because he happened to walk up to a house while we were serving a search warrant. He was trying to pick up some laundry but when we are executing a search warrant, we check on anyone that is in the house or arrives while we are there. He said he did not realize what was going on, even though there were multiple Sheriff’s vehicles parked around the house.

We arrested a guy not long ago when the deputy thought he would be nice and offer him a ride. The deputy ran the man’s name (out of routine) while he was driving him and found he had multiple warrants. The guy wanted to get out of the car, but was in the back where the doors do not work from the inside and there are bars over the windows. He got a ride straight to jail. We had someone who got their truck stuck in a field they were not supposed to be in and when we went out to help them, found the driver had a felony warrant from another county.

There are also tell-tale signs that something is up when people suddenly have memory loss when it comes to providing basic information to a deputy. Most people know when they were born so when we are given a birth date and then ask them how old they are and they look up at the ceiling like they are adding in their head, we have a sign that something is wrong.

When they give us their name and we ask how to spell it and they say, “I think it’s …” we have a sign that something is wrong because most people know how to spell their name. I once had a lady tell me she could not remember the name of the guy she was in the car with after he fled on foot during a traffic stop. She said she was just getting a ride and had seen him around but could not think of his name.

While I was talking to her, the driver was caught a few blocks from us and when they ran his name it was the same last name as the lady I was speaking with. Turns out the guy she had seen around before was her husband who had multiple warrants. I even had someone apply for a CCW permit who had warrants and came to the Sheriff’s Office for finger prints. We did let them come in to get their finger prints done, just not for the reason they thought.

It can be hard always looking over your shoulder and no one wants to go to jail. But when you take the first step to correcting bad choices from the past, you start a new path that will be much more rewarding in life. You no longer have any reason to run and you no longer have any reason to look over your shoulder.