A routine traffic enforcement stop Friday evening turned into the arrest of a Santa Paula man for alleged drug trafficking, after police said they found methamphetamine and items pointing to narcotic sales in his possession and inside his vehicle.
According to Santa Paula Police Sergeant Ryan Smith, the April 9 incident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. when police stopped a vehicle in the 900 block of Yale Street, just south of East Main Street. The vehicle, noted Smith, “made unsafe turn movements, actually drove up over the sidewalk.”
After officers conducted the stop, “The driver of the vehicle was found to have a suspended driver license.” A search was conducted on the vehicle, driven by 25-year-old Rogelio Almanza Ceballos, a Santa Paula resident.
“Officers located approximately 19 grams of methamphetamine in the vehicle and,” noted Smith, “on Ceballos.” Police also found “items indicative of illegal drug sales,” and Smith said more than $750 in cash was also seized as part of the investigation.
Ceballos was arrested without incident on suspicion of illegal drug sales and drug trafficking. He was lodged at the Ventura County Jail pending a court appearance. Ceballos, said Smith, “has a prior criminal conviction stemming from an illegal drug sales case in 2006.”
