Cheyenne Transient Arrested for Stealing Van, Drug Possession

A 36-year-old Cheyenne transient is behind bars after police say they caught him driving a stolen van with drug paraphernalia in it.

According to a booking sheet, police stopped Christian Alexander Chapparo and Tiffany Wiggins in the parking lot of Cheyenne Regional Medical Center - East Campus around 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 24, after observing Chapparo driving through nearby alleys in a black Ford Econoline that had been called in as suspicious and that's license plate didn't match the vehicle description.

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Police had Chapparo get out of the van and noticed that the van's ignition had been tampered with and that the lock cylinder was missing, suggesting the van may have been stolen.

Police say there was also a thin metal cylinder pipe consistent with fentanyl use on the driver's seat.

Officer Lisa Koeppel and her K-9 partner Tyler were called in to do a free air sniff of the van, and the dog alerted on the passenger side.

Police say there was a jacket on the passenger side floorboard with a glass pipe with suspected methamphetamine residue in it and other assorted metal fentanyl pipes scattered throughout the front of the van.

Chapparo reportedly admitted to police that he had been smoking fentanyl "blues" earlier that morning.

Police say a VIN check showed the van had been reported stolen on Oct. 16. by Johnny Valles and was valued at $1,500.

Chapparo was arrested and booked into the Laramie County Detention Center for felony motor vehicle theft and misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

As of late Wednesday morning, he had yet to be formally charged.

Wiggins was reportedly handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car, but there's no record of her arrest.