Photo: Alberto Mendez
Ventura County – The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Narcotic Street Team appears to have remarkable job security, in that almost weekly they apprehend individuals who are actively peddling controlled substances throughout the jurisdiction.
Evidence of that came on December 10th when, according to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Eduardo Malagon, undercover detectives attached to the Narcotics Street Team arrested 36-year-old Oxnard resident Alberto Mendez.
confiscated from Mendez
Earlier in the month, the cops “received information” detailing Mendez’s recent activities purveying methamphetamine. With that information on record, detectives then obtained a signed search warrant specifying Mendez’s residence and his vehicle as likely targets for discovery of evidence of criminal activity.
On the afternoon of the 10th, with Mendez under surveillance, the cops conducted “a traffic enforcement stop” of his vehicle, and contact with their suspect was made. Proffering the search warrant, detectives took a look inside Mendez’s car and found “approximately nine ounces of methamphetamine packaged for sale” as well as additional indicia of drug trafficking.
Mendez was taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail, where—after the discovery of ammunition, a ballistic vest, an unspecified amount of cash “believed to be proceeds from narcotics sales,” and 227 grams of methamphetamine—he was booked on charges of possession of ammunition, possession of a ballistic vest, and possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of sales. He remains in custody on a no-bail hold.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking, Ventura County Sheriff’s Narcotics Street Team
