A routine traffic stop in mid-December and a subsequent search of the man’s San Jose home this past weekend has resulted in seizure of cocaine and other drugs with a potential street value nearing $90,000, according to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
A sheriff’s deputy on Dec. 15 at about 10:15 p.m. conducted a traffic stop in the 200 block of San Felipe Road near downtown Hollister. The deputy’s German shepherd K-9 sniffed the car’s exterior, followed by the interior, and indicated possible presence of drugs.
Deputies recovered more than a half-pound of uncut cocaine – or 296 grams – with a possible wholesale price of $9,000 and a street value of $88,000, according to the sheriff’s office. They arrested the suspect, 26-year-old Antonio S. Lujan, and booked him into the San Benito County Jail with recommended charges of cocaine possession and transport of narcotics.
Then on Dec. 31 at about 7:30 a.m., deputies and members of the United Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant at his residence in San Jose and seized 1.5 ounces of cocaine, two loaded pistols and one shotgun, along with hallucinogenic mushrooms and 10 tabs of ecstasy – with a possible street value totaling $1,450.
Lujan was not there, but an additional male in the rear of the residence was arrested on a warrant as a parole at large.