Photo: Kenneth Frederick and John T. Hamilton
Santa Barbara County – California’s legalization of recreational marijuana doesn’t seem to have done much in the way of reducing the burden on law enforcement agencies tasked with monitoring the unlicensed activities of those involved in illegally growing, processing, transporting, selling, or possessing anything that has to do with the devil weed.
Case in point was the November 13th arrest of 51-year-old Kenneth H. Frederick and 34-year-old John T. Hamilton, both residents of the City of Lompoc. Both men were contacted by deputies attached to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Special Investigations Unit and members of the SBSD Cannabis Compliance Team in connection with an arrest and search warrant.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, the warrant was related to a wide spectrum of suspected offenses including “illegal and unlicensed cannabis transportation, processing, and sales.”
Both Frederick and Hamilton were contacted during the execution of “a car stop” that lead to the discovery of “one pound of methamphetamine, handgun ammunition, body armor, several pounds of dried and processed marijuana” and other indicia of illegal and undocumented sales of controlled substances. The search of Frederick’s residence also lead to the seizure of approximately $30,000.
Both men were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where Frederick was charged with numerous narcotics violations, as well as being a felon in possession of ammunition and body armor. His bail was set at $250,000. For his part, Hamilton was booked for being a felon in possession of pepper spray with his bail set at $20,000.
Photos: courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
