Authorities arrested two West Berkeley roommates earlier this month, tying them to a drug sales operation involving prescription pills and a mail order marijuana business.
According to court documents, a traffic stop Dec. 3 was the beginning of an investigation that ultimately uncovered more than 500 prescription pills and 17 pounds of marijuana in a home in the 2200 block of Sixth Street, along with another nine pounds of marijuana discovered during the vehicle stop.
At approximately 5:45 that night, Berkeley Police Officer Chris Flores wrote that he stopped a 22-year-old man after seeing him run a stop sign at Seventh and Hearst streets. During the stop, Flores said he smelled “a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.”
He asked the driver about the smell “and he showed me a bud of marijuana that he had on top of his middle console,” wrote Flores.
The officer asked the driver to get out so he could search the vehicle. Flores said he found nine vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, each weighing about a pound, inside a storage container in the car’s back seat.
In the trunk, wrote Flores, were 50 or so unused U.S. Postal Service packages for mailing.
Police also searched the driver’s cellphone and, according to Flores, found text messages “indicating that he was shipping marijuana to unknown recipients within the United States. There were also text messages indicating that he was selling prescription pills to unknown recipients.”
The driver was arrested and police obtained a search warrant for his home on Sixth Street. During a search of the man’s bedroom, Flores wrote that police found, among other prescription drugs, 146 amphetamine pills, 147 Alprazolam (trade name: Xanax) pills, 127 oxycodone hydrochloride pills and 71 opium alkaloid pills.
Police also reported the discovery of drug packaging, money, digital scales and 17 pounds of marijuana in the house.
According to court documents, police found four prescription alprazolam pills in a bedroom closet belonging to the man’s housemate. He was arrested just before 11:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Police Department.
“A search of his cell phone revealed text messages indicating he was also selling marijuana,” wrote Flores.
Both men have been charged by the Alameda County district attorney’s office with felony possession of marijuana for sale and felony possession of a controlled substance (Alprazolam).
The driver was also charged with another felony count of marijuana possession for sale, and two felony possession counts for sale of a controlled substance. He posted a $350,000 bond and is out on bail.
Both are set to appear in court Jan. 23 for a pre-trial hearing at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland.
Update, April 28: Berkeleyside removed the men’s names because the case, which involved only non-violent offenses, was resolved through a plea deal and there have been no additional offenses in the years since.
Related:
Teen arrested after robbery tied to medical cannabis buy (12.12.13)
2 charged with robbery after drug deal gone awry (10.30.13)
Police arrest Berkeley man with guns after robbery (10.14.13)
Berkeley Police arrest 2 felons with heroin, handguns (10.11.13)
Police arrest alleged drug dealer with loaded gun (05.30.13)
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