Santa Barbara – With a mugshot appearance quite outside the norm for those commonly charged with felony drugs and weapons charges, Juan Nunez, a 49-year old resident of Goleta, had for the prior several weeks fallen under the scrutiny of the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Narcotics Unit.
Clearly adhering to the ancient wisdom admonishing against “judging a book by its cover”, according to Sgt. Riley Harwood, SBPD Public Information Officer, police were acting upon various sources of “information that Nunez was selling cocaine and methamphetamine” throughout the local area. Those tips were of sufficient import to provide detectives with an active search warrant specific to Nunez’s residence, and they acted upon that warrant at dawn on September 11th, just as Nunez was heading off to his place of legitimate employment.
Nunez was summarily “detained when he exited his residence”, Harwood reported. In his personal possession that morning were 11 bindles of methamphetamine and eight bindles of cocaine, raising questions, presumably, as to the sincerity of his “straight job” commitment at the workplace.
The subsequent search of Nunez’s apartment—which now involved a team of investigators from the Santa Barbara Regional Narcotic Enforcement Team–revealed an additionial 1.75 ounces of cocaine, 5.4 grams of methamphetamine, more than $8,000 in cash, a 9mm pistol, a .45cal pistol, and ammunition for both weapons.
Nunez never made it to work that day, as he was promptly remanded to the custody staff at Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges of possession of cocaine for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a drug offense, with his bail set at $50,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
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