Oxycontin racket traced to pharmacy tech

David Lopez-Mejia

SANTA BARBARA –Santa Barbara County sheriff’s officials revealed to the media last Friday the results of a six-month narcotics investigation involving the street sales of large quantities of Oxycontin by a board-certified pharmacy technician.

Sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars reported that 23-year-old David Lopez-Mejia, employed at a major retail drugstore in downtown Santa Barbara, was arrested April 11 for illegal drug sales.

“Evidence shows that he was taking pills from his employer and engaging in street sales,” Sugars said, adding that other arrests may be forthcoming because “the investigation is still open.”

Lopez-Mejia was identified as the source of prescription medications being sold on the sidewalks of State Street, center of Santa Barbara’s most active pedestrian tourist traffic.  It was there, according to Sugars, that he was contacted by undercover narcotics detectives posing as out-of-town buyers looking for Oxycontin.

Over the course of several weeks, Lopez-Mejia met with the undercover deputies repeatedly and completed numerous sales transactions. He was arrested without incident during one of the drug buys, and a follow-up search of his residence provided detectives with substantial evidence of his drug embezzling and marketing activities.

He was booked into Santa Barbara County jail on multiple charges of sales of controlled substance and is now held on a no bail immigration bond.