Idaho man spends time in jail thanks to mistake

No one at the Nevada Department of Public Safety is commenting on a case of mistaken identity that caused the wrongful arrest of an Idaho man last week.

Jay Patrick, 36, of Boise, Idaho, said he spent more than two days in a Utah jail on drug charges after his name and picture were posted on the department's website as part of its "10 Most Wanted" list. His name also was entered into a national crime database.

"I'm still completely in the dark," Patrick said Thursday, six days after his release.

Tess Driver, assistant to Clark County District Attorney David Roger, said the Department of Public Safety's investigation division submitted the case for prosecution and obtained a warrant for Patrick's arrest in June .

Las Vegas attorney Martin Hart credited Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou with getting Patrick out of jail. Hart said he called the prosecutor on the afternoon of March 31.

"He took the call," Hart said. "He listened."

Patrick was released the following day after Hart provided Coumou with time sheets showing that Patrick was working as a reporter for The Herald Journal in Logan, Utah, when the crimes occurred in August 2009 in Mesquite.

Driver said Patrick's picture, stamped with the word "captured," and legal name, Jason William Patrick, remained on the Department of Public Safety's website Wednesday. They had been removed by Thursday.

Calls to the department's spokeswoman, Gail Powell, on Thursday were not returned.

Hart said he picked up about 30 pages of discovery Thursday from the district attorney's office. Included were officer's reports from the drug investigation.

The lawyer said the reports gave no explanation of how investigators identified Patrick as their suspect. Hart said one of the reports refers to the suspect as "Scott, later positively identified as Jason William Patrick."

Patrick was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.

Hart said the reports identify those involved in the investigation as Sgt. Kelly Bryant and Detectives Jeffrey Jourdan and Scott Trimming.

According to The Herald Journal, Cache County sheriff's deputies took Patrick into custody March 30 after he returned to Logan to pay a neglected fine for fishing without a license.

Patrick, who now works as a freelance writer in Idaho, was awaiting extradition to Nevada when he was released. He told the Review-Journal he never has stopped in Mesquite.

"I may have passed through on the freeway in the late '90s," he said.

Patrick said he plans to consult an attorney to discuss the possibility of a lawsuit. Hart doesn't handle civil rights cases. Patrick also said he wants to find out whether he was the victim of an innocent mistake "or just some really bad police work."

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.