'Routine traffic stop' yields pot bust, cash

YREKA — A traffic stop ran more than a week ago turned into a large drug bust for law enforcement.

According to Officer Rick Landrum , of the California Highway Patrol’s Yreka Area Command, one of his officers conducted had conducted a “very routine” traffic stop on an SUV, heading northbound on Interstate 5.

Landrum said that the SUV’s driver had been “driving erratically.”

During contact with the driver, Roberto Garcia, 47, and the passenger, Alverto Chavez, 30, Landrum said the officer suspected that something was unusual. “So, our officer searched the vehicle.”

The search revealed that the men, both from Washington, had in their possession 82 bags of processed marijuana — more than 114 pounds. “A loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol and more than $1,660 in cash had been found too,” Landrum said.

He stated that the marijuana’s wholesale value had been estimated at around $524,000.

The Siskiyou Countywide Interagency Narcotic Task Force assisted the investigation, Landrum said.

“Garcia and Chavez have been booked into the Siskiyou County Jail,” Landum said. The men are charged with