Nap Time Ends in Arrest

HOLLISTER — For the second time in a week, Hollister Police have arrested someone outside the Savemart Store at 291 McCray Street.  This time it was 26-year-old Hollister resident Alberto Mungia Cervantes, for possession of narcotics and a firearm.

Alberto Mungia Cervantes

On Thursday, January 20 at 8:25 a.m., police responded to a report of an unconscious man in a parked car in the front lot of the SaveMart Strip Mall.  The Hollister Fire Department arrived for assistance but were unable to wake the subject.

When Officer Rudy Rodriguez of the Hollister Police Department arrived, he immediately noticed suspicious drug-related items in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

When Cervantes eventually woke, he appeared lethargic and confused.  Officer Rodriguez took Cervantes in custody and began an investigation which soon determined that Cervantes was under the influence of narcotics and in possession of weapons — a large knife on his person and a handgun tucked under the driver’s seat of the vehicle.  Officer Rodriguez also found several bundles of narcotics that appeared ready for sale and other drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.

“This is a nice area of the city, it was just a coincidence that we had the two calls to this strip mall in one week,” newly-appointed Chief of Police David Westrick said, “but I am glad we got this guy off the streets, he should not have been doing that next to a school and a park where kids can be playing.”

Cervantes was booked into the San Benito County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of concentrated cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a concealed dagger, and carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is requested to contact the Hollister Police Department at 1-831-636-4330.