Martin Bertstecher
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — Sometimes an entrepreneur just can’t get a break. Certainly 49-year-old Martin Berstecher, a resident of the City of Orcutt in the northern reaches of Santa Barbara County, saw an opportunity to fill a consumer demand and simply sought to serve it.
Of course, when the demand is for methamphetamine, one might consider the consequences of criminal code violations committed while engaged in its production and sale.
Berstecher cache
Aside from the obvious risks attendant to producing a volatile chemical compound and then marketing the drug in the face of other competitive criminal interests, Berstecher appears to have overlooked the possibility of some “good citizen” informing law enforcement of his activities.
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, that’s exactly what led to Berstecher’s November 29th arrest following an unsolicited “citizen report of suspicious activity” at his residence.
Pursuant to that report, SBSD Special Investigations Bureau detectives obtained and served a search warrant on Berstecher’s home on the 29th, where they “located one pound of black tar heroin, 2.9 ounces of methamphetamine, and handgun ammunition,” all items which—as a convicted felon—Berstecher is not permitted to possess.
Given the totality of the evidence found at his home, Berstecher was taken into custody without incident and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges for possession of a controlled substance for sale and for being a felon in possession of ammunition, with his bail set at $100,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
