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Here's the story
Drug raid finds fake police gear
By K.C. MEADOWS/The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 02/15/2008 01:09:07 PM PST
The county's drug task force served a search warrant at a home on Ruddick-Cunningham Road expecting to find methamphetamine and marijuana and found not only the drugs, but evidence of a drug thieving operation that included costumes with which the thieves were impersonating drug enforcement officers.
A black cap and bulletproof vest labeled "POLICE" and "NARCOTICS" along with handcuffs, a badge, holsters, hoods and a pair of black tactical pants were among the items seized from the three-bedroom home where two arrests were made.
Veronica Vega Sandoval and Juan Carlos Garcia Arreguin, both 35, were arrested at the scene. A person who lived at the house is being sought by police.
Children living in the home were at school at the time of the arrests.
Officers, with the help of the Task Force drug search dog, found more than one quarter ounce of suspected methamphetamine in the house as well as two one-pound bags of trimmed marijuana buds and an estimated 10 pounds of untrimmed marijuana filling a blue plastic tub, approximately 20 gallons in size. Officers also seized a rifle.
According to Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force Commander Bob Nishiyama, the police-style costume is the same as one found in at least one other drug raid, and investigators believe it is linked to numerous home invasion robberies involving marijuana, including several in Boonville and the most recent on Cow Mountain in December.
Nishiyama said these robberies are becoming more common. He said people involved in drugs have found it is easier to steal marijuana than grow it themselves.
"They'd find who was finished harvesting, who had the bulk marijuana, and rob them," Nishiyama said. He said he believed there were many more home invasions of drugs than were reported, especially among victims who are Hispanic and don't feel comfortable contacting law enforcement.
Mendocino County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Greg Van Patten, on hand with other sheriff's deputies to assist at the scene, said the impersonation of officers is particularly disturbing.
"Not only do the victims think it was us, but when we go on our lawful seizures, will people think they're being robbed?" he said.
The scene outside the home - which investigators say was a Section 8 HUD rental for low-income residents - was littered with pieces of equipment, car parts, at least five vehicles, two boats, a horse trailer, trampoline, children's bicycles and go-carts, all in varying states of repair.
Also on the property were a flock of hens, several geese and at least two suspected cock-fighting roosters. The house was equipped with a security camera.
By K.C. MEADOWS/The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 02/15/2008 01:09:07 PM PST
The county's drug task force served a search warrant at a home on Ruddick-Cunningham Road expecting to find methamphetamine and marijuana and found not only the drugs, but evidence of a drug thieving operation that included costumes with which the thieves were impersonating drug enforcement officers.
A black cap and bulletproof vest labeled "POLICE" and "NARCOTICS" along with handcuffs, a badge, holsters, hoods and a pair of black tactical pants were among the items seized from the three-bedroom home where two arrests were made.
Veronica Vega Sandoval and Juan Carlos Garcia Arreguin, both 35, were arrested at the scene. A person who lived at the house is being sought by police.
Children living in the home were at school at the time of the arrests.
Officers, with the help of the Task Force drug search dog, found more than one quarter ounce of suspected methamphetamine in the house as well as two one-pound bags of trimmed marijuana buds and an estimated 10 pounds of untrimmed marijuana filling a blue plastic tub, approximately 20 gallons in size. Officers also seized a rifle.
According to Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force Commander Bob Nishiyama, the police-style costume is the same as one found in at least one other drug raid, and investigators believe it is linked to numerous home invasion robberies involving marijuana, including several in Boonville and the most recent on Cow Mountain in December.
Nishiyama said these robberies are becoming more common. He said people involved in drugs have found it is easier to steal marijuana than grow it themselves.
"They'd find who was finished harvesting, who had the bulk marijuana, and rob them," Nishiyama said. He said he believed there were many more home invasions of drugs than were reported, especially among victims who are Hispanic and don't feel comfortable contacting law enforcement.
Mendocino County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Greg Van Patten, on hand with other sheriff's deputies to assist at the scene, said the impersonation of officers is particularly disturbing.
"Not only do the victims think it was us, but when we go on our lawful seizures, will people think they're being robbed?" he said.
The scene outside the home - which investigators say was a Section 8 HUD rental for low-income residents - was littered with pieces of equipment, car parts, at least five vehicles, two boats, a horse trailer, trampoline, children's bicycles and go-carts, all in varying states of repair.
Also on the property were a flock of hens, several geese and at least two suspected cock-fighting roosters. The house was equipped with a security camera.
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