San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a local probation
officer Wednesday for allegedly smuggling unidentified prescription
drugs into juvenile hall and carrying a concealed weapon, according
to probation officials.
Hollister – San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a local probation officer Wednesday for allegedly smuggling unidentified prescription drugs into juvenile hall and carrying a concealed weapon, according to probation officials.
San Benito County Juvenile Institutional Officer Manuel Gonzales, 41, of Los Banos, was arrested on felony charges of carrying a concealed weapon, child endangerment and smuggling drugs into a juvenile facility, along with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Undersheriff Pat Turturici. He was arrested after police searched him and found a loaded .38 revolver, which was not registered to him but rather to his roommate, and numerous prescription pills believed to be Vicodin, a narcotic painkiller, Turturici said. While police do not know if Gonzales’ intent was to bring the gun into juvenile hall, he had the weapon tucked into the back of his waistband when police arrested him outside the facility, according to Turturici. Head Probation Officer Deborah Botts did not know why he would bring the gun to work, as juvenile officers do not carry weapons on duty.
“I’m disgusted – I can’t defend him. This is supposed to be a safe and sober place,” Botts said. “He exercised poor judgment and blurred the boundaries of professional distance.”
Sheriff’s deputies were tipped off to Gonzales’ actions from an unrelated investigation into gang activity, Turturici said. Police secured a warrant and conducted the search Wednesday at 6am in the parking lot of Juvenile Hall, which is located next to the San Benito County Jail on Flynn Road, as Gonzales was exiting his car and preparing to begin his work day.
Gonzales was immediately placed on administrative leave and, besides going to jail if convicted of the charges, could be fired, Botts said.
“This is the first time this has occurred,” Botts said. “But I’ve been in this business long enough that people don’t surprise me any more.”
Police suspect Gonzales was bringing the highly-addictive prescription pills to a juvenile in custody at the facility, but do not know why or for who. Through their two-week long investigation, police did find evidence to suggest that Gonzales brought prescription drugs into juvenile hall at least once before, according to Turturici. The investigation is still ongoing, and Botts could not comment on weather Gonzales had any prior disciplinary problems at work because it is a personnel issue, she said.
San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill praised his deputies for arresting Gonzales before he committed more serious infractions. Hill believes crimes like those Gonzales allegedly committed could undermine the entire juvenile facility.
“Anytime you have an employee bringing any kind of contraband – even if it’s just a bag of potato chips – into the facility it creates a security problem,” he said. “It starts to snowball. It’s a slippery slope.”
Often times slight infractions can lead to more serious crimes, such as helping inmates escape, Hill said.
“This is serious, people could get killed by that kind of behavior,” he said. “Those kind of actions are not in the interests of penological order.”
Gonzales is being held in the San Benito County Jail in lieu of $61,000 bail.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
