http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jul/19/heroin-stash-found-traffic-stop/?partner=yahoo_headlines
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By Ryan Sabalow (Contact)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The discovery Friday of 171⁄2 pounds of suspected heroin stashed in the bumper of a car traveling on Interstate 5 could be a record haul of the illegal drug. “I think this is going to be the biggest (heroin bust) in Shasta County history,” said Capt. Dave Compomizzo of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
The stash of tape- and plastic-wrapped, ready-to-inject “tar heroin” is worth $2.8 million on the street, said Les James, acting commander of the California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team.
But the man suspected of transporting the drugs wasn’t located Friday despite a daylong search that blanketed a north Redding neighborhood with officers and deputies in the air and on the ground.
Shasta County sheriff’s detectives found the suspected heroin during a traffic stop north of Oasis Road, James said. “There were no prior leads or anything like that,” James said.
Sheriff’s Detective Chris McQuillan, standing next to the red Volkswagen while agents snapped pictures and pulled the bundles from the car’s hidden compartment, said the driver of the sedan was stopped for following another vehicle too closely.
But the driver, who gave identification to the detectives before fleeing, got nervous, especially when a drug-sniffing dog picked up the scent of his stash, McQuillan said.
“The dog indicated (that drugs were in the car) and he took off — ‘foot bailed’ — from us,” McQuillan said. The car was not stolen, James said.
He declined to reveal the name on the suspect’s ID, saying doing so could jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Reverse 911 calls sent out to residents and businesses in north Redding between Oasis Road and Collyer Drive described the driver as a Hispanic man in his 20s.
Standing about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds, he has a shiny metal earring in his left ear and an eyebrow piercing above his left eye, Compomizzo said. When he ran away, the man was wearing a brown polo shirt and blue jeans, McQuillan said.
But the suspect may have taken off his shirt during his flight, Compomizzo said. Anyone who spots a person matching that description is asked to call 911. As deputies searched Friday, residents were on edge.
Five sheriff’s patrol cars were parked in front of Judy Hobbs’ Oasis Road home as deputies with their guns drawn and a CHP helicopter searched a wooded area behind her house. Hobbs called her husband, Pete, 59, to help keep their four grandchildren safe. He came home from work to do so. “I want the kids to stay right here,” Pete Hobbs said.
“Keep them in the yard. If he jumps in the yard, I’ll nail him.” Although the bust was rare because of its size, Friday’s heroin stash wasn’t the first time in Shasta County that officers have come across large quantities of the drug.
In August 1997, a CHP officer found 8 pounds of heroin, then worth an estimated $870,000, stashed in hidden compartments inside a 1983 Chevrolet, officials said.
Three days earlier, CHP officers’ search of a vehicle turned up 40 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $2.7 million, officials said. Drug agents in central California have seen a noticeable increase in heroin trafficking, said Gordon Taylor, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge in Sacramento.
“Not in the Redding area per se,” Taylor said. “But in the Central Valley areas, such as Stanislaus and Fresno counties, we’ve seen a number of multipound seizures in those areas.”
He said most of the opium poppies that produce the Central Valley’s heroin supply are grown in Mexico. He said in recent years methamphetamine — once known as “poor man’s” cocaine or heroin — has surpassed heroin in price.
Drug agents are spending $1,000 to $1,400 for an ounce of meth, while a “piece” (about 3 grams shy of an ounce) of heroin is selling for $600 to $1,000, Taylor said.
Taylor credited the rise of meth prices to federal regulations that put some cough medicines that contained ingredients used to make the drug behind the counter at pharmacies.
CLICK THE LINK FOR PICS,
By Ryan Sabalow (Contact)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The discovery Friday of 171⁄2 pounds of suspected heroin stashed in the bumper of a car traveling on Interstate 5 could be a record haul of the illegal drug. “I think this is going to be the biggest (heroin bust) in Shasta County history,” said Capt. Dave Compomizzo of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
The stash of tape- and plastic-wrapped, ready-to-inject “tar heroin” is worth $2.8 million on the street, said Les James, acting commander of the California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team.
But the man suspected of transporting the drugs wasn’t located Friday despite a daylong search that blanketed a north Redding neighborhood with officers and deputies in the air and on the ground.
Shasta County sheriff’s detectives found the suspected heroin during a traffic stop north of Oasis Road, James said. “There were no prior leads or anything like that,” James said.
Sheriff’s Detective Chris McQuillan, standing next to the red Volkswagen while agents snapped pictures and pulled the bundles from the car’s hidden compartment, said the driver of the sedan was stopped for following another vehicle too closely.
But the driver, who gave identification to the detectives before fleeing, got nervous, especially when a drug-sniffing dog picked up the scent of his stash, McQuillan said.
“The dog indicated (that drugs were in the car) and he took off — ‘foot bailed’ — from us,” McQuillan said. The car was not stolen, James said.
He declined to reveal the name on the suspect’s ID, saying doing so could jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Reverse 911 calls sent out to residents and businesses in north Redding between Oasis Road and Collyer Drive described the driver as a Hispanic man in his 20s.
Standing about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds, he has a shiny metal earring in his left ear and an eyebrow piercing above his left eye, Compomizzo said. When he ran away, the man was wearing a brown polo shirt and blue jeans, McQuillan said.
But the suspect may have taken off his shirt during his flight, Compomizzo said. Anyone who spots a person matching that description is asked to call 911. As deputies searched Friday, residents were on edge.
Five sheriff’s patrol cars were parked in front of Judy Hobbs’ Oasis Road home as deputies with their guns drawn and a CHP helicopter searched a wooded area behind her house. Hobbs called her husband, Pete, 59, to help keep their four grandchildren safe. He came home from work to do so. “I want the kids to stay right here,” Pete Hobbs said.
“Keep them in the yard. If he jumps in the yard, I’ll nail him.” Although the bust was rare because of its size, Friday’s heroin stash wasn’t the first time in Shasta County that officers have come across large quantities of the drug.
In August 1997, a CHP officer found 8 pounds of heroin, then worth an estimated $870,000, stashed in hidden compartments inside a 1983 Chevrolet, officials said.
Three days earlier, CHP officers’ search of a vehicle turned up 40 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $2.7 million, officials said. Drug agents in central California have seen a noticeable increase in heroin trafficking, said Gordon Taylor, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge in Sacramento.
“Not in the Redding area per se,” Taylor said. “But in the Central Valley areas, such as Stanislaus and Fresno counties, we’ve seen a number of multipound seizures in those areas.”
He said most of the opium poppies that produce the Central Valley’s heroin supply are grown in Mexico. He said in recent years methamphetamine — once known as “poor man’s” cocaine or heroin — has surpassed heroin in price.
Drug agents are spending $1,000 to $1,400 for an ounce of meth, while a “piece” (about 3 grams shy of an ounce) of heroin is selling for $600 to $1,000, Taylor said.
Taylor credited the rise of meth prices to federal regulations that put some cough medicines that contained ingredients used to make the drug behind the counter at pharmacies.
