Officers of the Novato Police Department made a pair of arrests on multiple charges, including illicit substance offenses, late Thursday night after they discovered two suspects and some incriminating evidence in a vehicle. The arrests are described in an NPD press release.
NPD officers were on a “foot patrol,” at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, according to NPD Lieutenant Oliver Collins, when they noticed the two suspects in a car parked near the America’s Best Value Inn at 7600 Redwood Boulevard. One of the men, Collins said, exhibited “objective signs of impairment” and was determined to be under the influence of an illegal drug.
Novato PD K9 Metz, a hero many times over.
The officers brought in canine Metz to aid in a search of the vehicle. “The normal course of action is that, if they suspect that there are narcotics, that they would bring in the canine,” Collins said of the decision to have Metz contribute to the search.
Lawrence Van Zandt, a 56-year-old Novato resident, and Matthew Sheahan, a 40-year-old transient of Sausalito, were found to be in possession of illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, counterfeit currency, items used to commit burglary, and other items that appeared related to identity theft.
Though Collins was not at liberty to disclose the exact nature of the items found in the vehicle, he explained that “fake IDs, and things like that” are typical examples of evidence of identity theft.
Officers booked Van Zandt and Sheahan at Marin County Jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, identity theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of counterfeit currency, and being under the influence of illegal drugs.
