Sonora, CA — The Sonora Police Department had a busier than normal Labor Day weekend. Chief Mark Stinson says “We had a very busy weekend compared to normal. We had about three times the number of arrest than we normally have during a Labor Day weekend.” Stinson adds “We saw a lot of narcotics arrest unfortunately and we also had numerous arrested related to traffic violations, drunk driving, battery and public intoxication.” Stinson says many of the arrests were of people coming into the area or people who had recently move to the area.
Below is a recap of some of the incidents which occurred during the weekend:
On August 30 around 9pm a male subject was observed acting suspicious near Wal- Mart. An Officer stopped the suspect 56 year old Robert Hultsman of Palo Alto. Police say Hultsman is on parole for sex crimes and was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet. Hultsman didn’t have authorization to be in Tuolumne County. He was arrested for violation of parole, felony violation of sex registration and misdemeanor delaying an officer.
On August 31 around 7:30pm, an Officer stopped a vehicle for running a stop sign. Inside the car were Christian Gonzalez, 20 of Jamestown and Timothy Reis, 19 of Sonora. Police report the officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. They say after a search of the car police found Psilocybin mushrooms, a small amount of marijuana and a butterfly knife. Police say once at the jail they found a baggie of methamphetamine on Gonzales. The two were arrested on several felony drug charges.
On August 31 at around 9:30pm, Police report officers served a search warrant on an apartment located at 250 Greenley Road. They say the tenants were not home, but the search revealed glass smoking pipes containing methamphetamine and Xanex pills. Felony charges are pending against the tenants of the apartment. Police say while officers searched that apartment they asked for and were granted a search of another apartment in the complex. They say there they found a half-gram of heroin, 4 individual baggies of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, drug packaging, electronic scale and $565 in cash. The residents, 35 year old Brian Bockert and 25 year old Amber Hoskins were arrested for several felony drug charges.
On August 31 at 11:30pm, Police report 32 year old Brandon King of Sonora approached a undercover officer, who was conducting surveillance on drug activity, following the service of the above search warrant. They say King introduced himself to the officer and explained he was making sure there were no law enforcement officers still in the area. Police determined King had two felony drug warrants for his arrest and was on probation for sales of controlled substances out of Sacramento. Police say during his arrest officers found heroin and drug paraphernalia on him. King was arrested on the two felony drug warrants and new felony drug charges.
Police says there were also a few driving under the influence arrests as well as battery arrests made over the busy weekend.
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