Photo: James Girona
Santa Barbara County – As if being engaged in the production of Butane Honey Oil (BHO) was dangerous enough given the volatile gases produced in the manufacturing process, 43-year-old New York State resident James Girona appears to have taken the notion of “risky business” to new heights.
Girona’s car
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, it was just after 3:00 a.m. on June 5th when 911 Dispatch received a call reporting “a suspicious subject in a parked vehicle” on a Goleta residential street.
Deputies responded to the reported location and discovered Girona—in the company of his “live alligator snapping turtle” with which he had traveled from New York—inside a vehicle whose “windows had been blown out.” The immediately ensuing investigation of the scene revealed debris and pieces of Girona’s car as far away as forty feet in all directions, with a nearby parked car sustaining damage from flying glass.
Deputies summoned detectives from the SBSD Special Investigations Bureau to the scene. They determined that Girona had been working with volatile chemicals inside his car in an apparent attempt to produce BHO. “Something went wrong” and an explosion erupted inside the car, leaving behind ample evidence of Girona’s illicit activity while parked at the curb.
saved snapping turtle
The snapping turtle was transported to a nearby animal shelter while Girona was given a lift to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, with his bail set at $75,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter, Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
