Luis Paz
Santa Barbara County – Sometimes law enforcement boils down to the legendary “Fuller Brush Man Theory,” which preached the path to becoming a millionaire as a simple numbers game: knock on ten doors, sell one Fuller brush.
That certainly seems to have been the underlying operative principle behind the October 7th arrest of 54-year-old Luis Paz, a resident of Santa Maria, who was contacted pursuant to what Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer described to the media as “two narcotics-related search warrants” served upon Paz’s duplex where he was apparently sharing the residences with no fewer than a dozen other individuals.
Once SBSD deputies made their way into the interior of the duplex units, they “detained 13 individuals, including one juvenile.”
While that baker’s dozen of potential suspects was “detained,” deputies discovered 14 grams of heroin “with a street value of $1,200” along with other evidence of an active narcotics merchandising operation.
Supporting that contention was the further discovery of “$28,000 in cash and a loaded stolen .38 caliber handgun.”
Pursuant to the evidence at hand, Paz was arrested at the scene and then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of possession of heroin for sale, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of a loaded firearm while possessing a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale within 1000 feet of an elementary school, and possession of drug paraphernalia.