Three people were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of felony drug and identity theft charges after Scottsdale police discovered cocaine, marijuana and a counterfeit ID inside a downtown Scottsdale hotel room.
Police later discovered one of the suspects was wanted on three outstanding warrants in 14 felony offenses, including drug possession, identification and credit card theft, prohibited possession of a firearm and tampering with physical evidence.
Thomas W. Florence, 37, Douglas R. Poister, 30, and Korbi L. Doster, 31, were arrested on suspicion of aggravated identity theft, drug possession and criminal trespassing after police responded to the Holiday Inn Express at 3131 N. Scottsdale Road about 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Florence, whose warrants stemmed from incidents in July and August and failure to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court, is being held in Maricopa County’s Fourth Avenue Jail on $50,000 bail, according to Doug Matteson, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
In the incident over the weekend, hotel management reported illegal activity to police, who responded to the hotel and had to force their way into the room as the suspects fled over the balcony.
Police said they caught the three in the parking lot.
Doster registered for the room on Thursday, but management wanted them evicted because they were overdue on the payment, according to police.
After catching the three suspects, police discovered a video surveillance camera in Poister’s backpack.
Police said Poister took the camera off the wall of a hotel hallway near his room.
They also found drug paraphernalia including hypodermic needles, cocaine, marijuana and a bong, police said.
An Arizona driver’s license also was found in the room with one of the male suspect’s pictures, but a different name was printed on the license, police said.
All three suspects were initially booked into the Scottsdale City Jail.
