Local News

Police arrested a man on a local warrant and for drug possession yesterday while responding to a disturbance at the Grants Pass Shopping Center.

According to GPPD, officers were patrolling the shopping center off NE D Street during the noon hour on Wednesday when they heard yelling and screaming coming from the alley near Magic Donuts.

Police said they observed a woman actively screaming at a man whom they later identified as 35-year-old Wayne Patrick Baker. They said the argument was verbal only, but it caused workers to come outside their nearby businesses.

Upon contact with Baker, officers discovered that he was wanted on a Grants Pass warrant for 3rd-Degree Theft and 2nd-Degree Criminal Trespass. During a consent search, Baker admitted to being in possession of a methamphetamine pipe. The pipe tested positive for meth residue and it was seized for destruction.

Baker was lodged at the Josephine County Jail on the warrant plus a new charge of Meth Possession. The woman -- identified by police as "Morgan Botello" -- was warned for Disorderly Conduct.