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South Lake Tahoe vehicle burglar granted probation

Rachel Spacek
rspacek@sierrasun.com

A South Lake Tahoe woman involved in multiple vehicle burglaries at the MontBleu and Hard Rock Casinos last summer had her sentence suspended and was placed on probation in court on Monday.

Alisha N. Collum, 28, who is currently residing and working in Reno, completed a treatment program that, according to Judge Thomas Gregory, was what saved her from going to prison.

Collum was arrested on Aug. 17 after deputies responded to reports of a burglary in progress at the Hard Rock Casino. After meeting with casino security, deputies found that a man had broken into a vehicle and stole a toolbox, cellphone and jumper cables. The man fled the scene. Collum was later detained after security reviewed camera footage and found she was acting as a lookout as the man broke into the vehicles.



An inventory search of Collum’s person uncovered a hand-held torch, a pipe with white residue and a magic eraser sponge. Collum admitted to smoking methamphetamine earlier that day and said she was using the sponge to clean her equipment.

Collum was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, six charges of possession of a credit card without consent, theft and forgery.



Collum was also in possession of a backpack with stolen property from the burglary victim. Deputies concluded Collum was involved with two car burglaries and assisted in them by using a stolen players club card at MontBleu.

Collum had both her 32-month sentence for the possession of a controlled substance and forgery charges and her 34 month-sentence for attempted burglary suspended.

A South Lake Tahoe man admitted to trafficking methamphetamine in court on Monday and is facing a maximum of six years in prison.

Henry L. Gerling, 50, was arrested on charges of trafficking methamphetamine and two counts of possession of paraphernalia.

On July 27, officers were dispatched to the 1200 block of Kimmerling Road in Gardnerville in reference to a male in a parked car slumped over the steering wheel. The vehicle was parked in the middle of the alleyway behind Silver Strike Lanes. On scene deputies made contact with the man, however according to reports he could not answer questions about why he was in the area and who the vehicle belonged to.

Dispatch told the officers that numerous individuals had contacts with Gerling for controlled substances, hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia. Officers searched Gerling’s vehicle and found three small bags of methamphetamine, totaling more than 23 grams, a small scale, unused bags and unused hypodermic needles.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22.

 


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