Woman Tries to Swallow a Baggie of Meth During Her Arrest

At around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, Missoula Police Officers responded to a citizen report of a fight in the parking lot of the Cenex gas station in the 900 block of North Russell Street. When officers arrived, they made contact with multiple individuals.

One female was observed to have a cut on her forehead that was bleeding. The individuals reported that there was a female that had been involved and that she had fled through the alley. Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh explains.

“The officers learned that there had been an argument that escalated into a physical fight over personal property,” Welsh said. “The people at the scene did not wish to pursue any action. One of the females did have a small injury and she declined treatment. The female who had fled the scene was eventually located entering an apartment complex.”

Upon viewing the officer, who was in full uniform, the female immediately fled. A few moments later, the officer caught up to the suspect. The officer conducted a pat down of her body. However, she was able to get free from his grasp and placed an unknown object into her mouth.

“When confronted by officers, she put something in her mouth that was later determined to be a small ziploc baggie with a substance that the officers believed may have been narcotic related,” Welsh said. “They eventually determined that it was in fact methamphetamine. During the course of her attempting to swallow this, the woman curled up into a ball and failed to follow the instructions of the officers. She eventually spit out the baggie and was taken into custody without further incident.”

The female was identified as 26-year-old Juliet Maisch. Maisch was placed under arrest and taken to the Detention Center. At the Detention Center, a routine inventory search was conducted of Maisch’s belongings. Within the pink bag she had been carrying, officers located a small amount of heroin and numerous items of drug paraphernalia.

Maisch was charged with two counts of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and one count of felony tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.