A homeless man was arrested Thursday after police say he stole a woman's purse and had a syringe which later tested positive for methamphetamine.

Michael Jelio Davis, 21, was booked into jail on recommended charges of theft and meth possession. He will likely make his initial appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court at 2 p.m. Friday.

Charging papers say at about 4 p.m. Thursday, a detective was in the area of South Walsh Street and Swanton Avenue when he was told by other officers that a wanted individual was possibly in the area.

The detective saw a silver Chevrolet passenger car pull into a parking lot, and the driver who got out was a man who may have been associated with the wanted person.

The detective watched as another man got into the rear passenger side of the silver car. The detective pulled in and parked behind the silver car, then got out and walked up to the silver car.

The man who had just gotten into the car was identified as Davis. Davis allegedly tried to move his left hand in order to get something out of his pocket, or push something beneath him to hide it.

The detective told Davis to stop moving and show his hands, but Davis did not comply and continued to move around as if he were trying to hide something. Davis said he was just trying to scratch himself.

Other officers arrived to assist and, since Davis allegedly wouldn't stop moving, the detective removed Davis from the car. As Davis was getting out, the detective saw a syringe on the seat where Davis had been sitting. That syringe later tested presumptively positive for meth.

Davis was arrested. During a police interview, he allegedly said he had recently relapsed and started using meth about a week and a half prior.

Davis told police he had last used on Wednesday, and was trying to hide the syringe for another person.

When asked about other crimes, Davis allegedly said he stole a purse from an unattended shopping cart at Albertson's about three weeks prior. He said the purse contained "six or seven hundred dollars," which he spent. Davis said he threw the purse into the river.

On Nov. 25, a woman had reported her purse going missing between 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the Albertson's on East Second Street. She said the purse contained credit cards, identification, other documents and $530 in cash.

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