PHOTO: Placer County Sheriff’s Office
A Nevada man has been arrested after a Placer County deputy who pulled him over for reckless driving spotted a rifle in the back seat.
The deputy stopped 47-year-old Fidel Lopez-Martines on Auburn-Folsom Road near Douglas Boulevard just after 1 AM on Tuesday, June 9, after reportedly seeing him weaving in and out of his lane.
When he approached the vehicle, the deputy had Lopez-Martines roll down all his windows for safety purposes and quickly noticed a .22LR rifle in the back seat.
The deputy immediately removed the rifle, which contained sixteen rounds of ammunition, and conducted a search of the vehicle, finding over 500 rounds of ammo cartridges in a bag in the back seat.
A passenger who’d been riding with Lopez-Martines was also searched and was found to have a small plastic bag of suspected methamphetamine in his front pocket.
Lopez-Martines is also accused of initially providing a false name when asked for identification. He was nonetheless arrested and his actual identity was verified during the booking process, at which point it was discovered he had an expired California license.
He remains in custody on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, being a felon in possession of ammunition, possession of a controlled substance while armed, carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, providing a false name to a peace officer, and being an unlicensed driver.
