SANTA BARBARA – Just after noon on December 4th, Santa Barbara Police Department Officers Woodill and DeJohn were on routine patrol in the vicinity of a local motel commonly patronized by area transients when they spotted Jovanny Ivan Cipres, 23, known to them as a probationer with an outstanding arrest warrant.
According to Woodill’s official report and booking record, “Cipres was contacted and arrested for the warrant,” and when a personal search of Cipres was conducted, he was found to be in possession of “10.9 grams of heroin, 40 Soma pills, and 8.5 Hydrocodone pills.” Based upon that evidence and their surveillance of Cipres’ activities immediately prior, the officers determined that Cipres was actively engaged in the illegal sales of controlled substances. The conclusion was supported by their further finding a record of calls on Cipres’ cell phone with “numerous messages” indicating his commercial activities.
Having observed what Woodill described as “hand to hand drug transactions”, the cops charged Cipres with possession of heroin for sale and sale of heroin. As per the terms of Cipres’ probation, his motel room was then searched, whereupon one ounce of marijuana was discovered along with the heroin pipe, and a laptop computer that had been reported as stolen. While the officers were conducting their investigation, Cipres’ cell phone received numerous text messages, including one from “a person who was trying to purchase drugs.”
Officers responded to the text message posing as Cipres, and arranged for a meeting with the buyer, who was ultimately revealed as a 16 year-old girl. The totality of the evidence on the scene earned Cipres charges of possession of heroin for sale, child endangerment, and multiple probation violations. He remains in Santa Barbara County Jail on a no bail hold.
Read more:
