Couple arrested for ‘party house’ appear in court, remain jailed

By Jean Reid Norman

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 6:05 p.m.

A Boulder City couple charged with three felonies and multiple misdemeanors in a raid on what police called a “party house” received some stern words from Justice of the Peace Victor Lee Miller on Tuesday.

Curtis Shafer, 30, and Jenna Shafer, 24, are charged with possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a house for drug use or sale and conspiracy to maintain a house for drug use or sale, all felonies, along with 34 misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, police said. Curtis Shafer was also charged with obstructing a police officer, a misdemeanor, police said.

They were to be released from the Clark County Detention Center on the felony charges and were to be sent the Henderson Detention Center on the misdemeanor charges. Tuesday evening, they hadn’t yet been transferred from county jail.

They are scheduled to appear in Boulder City Municipal Court on Thursday on the misdemeanor charges.

Miller dropped bail requirements on the felonies, because the district attorney’s office had not filed the formal charges, but he gave the couple a strong warning.

“You need to stay out of trouble,” Miller said. “If the police come to your house again, they’ll take you in and will not let you out.”

The raid came about a week after neighbors brought their concerns about the house to Police Chief Thomas Finn during his monthly “Talk to the Chief” gathering.

The neighbors said the house draws constant traffic, including both vehicles and people coming through the desert from behind the house and jumping the fence.

“Every half-hour there is a new car,” said Mercedes Fenyves, who lives next door.

Melissa Tretton, who lives on the other side of the Shafer home, said she once had someone knock on her door asking for drugs. When her father told him he had the wrong house, the man argued with him, she said.

“When you have people knocking at your door looking for drugs, it’s ridiculous,” she said.

Ed Shafer, Curtis Shafer’s father, said the couple has been trying to straighten out their lives. Their children had been taken from them earlier this year after Jenna Shafer faced other drug charges, he said.

Jenna Shafer had been going to parenting classes to earn custody of the children, and Curtis Shafer had been going to drug awareness classes, the father said.

“I was in the process of getting them help” when the arrests occurred, he said. He had looked into drug rehabilitation for them just the day before, he said.

“I’m helping my family,” he said. “Those who say I should kick them to the gutter, well, I’ll never do that.”

Ed Shafer said that traffic to his son’s house has decreased dramatically recently and that no one is jumping over the fence anymore.

“That hasn’t happened in months,” he said.

“It’s been a tough road on them,” he said. “They are trying to straighten themselves out.”