(Photo: Napa Valley Register)
AMERICAN CANYON – During the night on November 27 (1:30 a.m., to be precise), an ACOD officer spotted a 2001 Mercedes driving with a vehicle code equipment violation.
The officer stopped the driver, whose female passenger was on formal probation, thus opening the door, figuratively and literally, for a vehicle search.
The search first yielded prescription pills to someone who was not in the vehicle, as well as magazines to a firearm.
A further search of the vehicle then produced a loaded “short-barreled AR-15 style rifle in the trunk.”
The driver, 42-year-old Hesperia resident Philip Haas, was arrested and charged with carrying a loaded firearm, possessing an assault weapon, having a concealed weapon, possessing a large capacity magazine, and violating a prohibition from possessing the same.
