Josue Eliel Cambray Lopez
A team of law enforcement officers from several agencies recently dropped the hammer on a San Luis Obispo man suspected of running a veritable pharmacy of illegal drugs selling them via social media.
According to Sheriff’s spokesman, Tony Cipolla, the case began last February when officers with the Sheriff’s Office Operations Unit (SOU), Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), SLO County Probation Department, and the SLO Police Department began a joint investigation of a SLO man “who was using the social media app, Snapchat, to advertise the sales of multiple types of narcotics and to facilitate narcotic transactions,” Cipolla said in a news release.
On June 15 officers served a search warrant on the man’s home in the 1500 block of Madonna Rd., SLO. The search revealed a cache of suspected drugs, guns and money.
“The search warrant resulted in the seizure of multiple narcotics,” Cipolla said, “two non-serialized handguns and approximately $14,000 in cash.” Non-serialized handguns or so-called “ghost guns” are assembled from a kit and have no serial numbers, and thus cannot be registered with the State.
Cipolla added, the confiscated suspected narcotics included: 23 grams of MDMA/Ecstasy tablets; 33 grams of counterfeit Oxycodone Hydrochloride 30mg tablets containing Fentanyl and Acetaminophen; 1.95 grams of counterfeit Acetaminophen and Oxycodone Hydrochloride pills containing Fentanyl; and 2 grams of counterfeit Alprazolam (Xanax) pills containing Etizolam.
Estimated value of the narcotics seized was approximately $5,000.
Josue Eliel Cambray Lopez, 19, was arrested for suspicion of possession of a narcotic controlled substance for sale, and being armed while committing a felony, Cipolla said.
A screen shot of the Snapchat web page Lopez was allegedly using, literally lists various types of drugs in an actual “menu” and invites people to “chat” if they want to place an order. It would seem a rather brazen and oddly public way to deal drugs, which would normally garner more secrecy and discretion, considering these are potential felonies.
