POLICE SEEING RISE IN HEROIN ARRESTS

At Least Three Cars Were Carrying Balloons Filled With Heroin Inside
Of Hidden Compartments

HEMET - Hemet police officials are investigating a trend that
involves at least three heroin seizures made inside cars equipped
with hidden compartments. Story continues below Courtesy the Hemet
Police Department Hemet police are looking into whether three recent
heroin seizures, each of which took place during traffic stops for
vehicle code violations, are related.

The Hemet-based Riverside County Sheriff's Department also made a
similar seizure and arrest last year.

Drug smugglers have long used such tactics to trick federal and state
law enforcement officials along the U.S. and Mexican borders and
freeways, something the U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and California
Highway Patrol target daily.

But the seizures and arrests made in the San Jacinto Valley are
uncommon, law enforcement officials said.

"Hidden compartments are nothing new to law enforcement, but it's
unusual for a municipal police department like ours to find this many
in such a short period of time," Hemet police Lt. Jeff Pinney said.
"It seems like these guys are acting almost like sales reps when they
come into town."

Pinney said he is not sure if the arrests and seizures are related,
but they are looking into it.

Crime Suppression Unit Detective Frank Pitette said the majority of
the heroin seized was packaged in balloons and sold for about $20 to
$30 each. A user could get high for four to six hours off one
balloon, depending on their habit.

"I don't think heroin ever went away, it just got overlooked for many
years as not a problem," Pitette said.

Pitette said that some of those arrested have taken plea bargains and
have received up to three years in state prison for the trafficking
and possession charges, he said.

All the seizures and arrests took place during traffic stops for
vehicle code violations. The officer became suspicious because the
driver was acting nervous or there was no logical reason for the
motorist to be in the area, police said. Cash was also seized in the
cases, many of which involved a police dog.

The latest incident happened about 4:50 p.m. Saturday in Hemet, when
officers stopped a Toyota Avalon along the 2300 block of East Florida
Avenue. The driver had no identification and a search of the car
revealed 33 heroin balloons worth more than $1,500 hidden in the dashboard.

Two days earlier, officers stopped an Infiniti Q45 along the 900
block of South Santa Fe Street and found 50 balloons of heroin worth
more than $2,000 concealed in the dash. More than $1,600 in cash was
also recovered.

In December, Hemet police seized 33 bags of heroin in a hidden
compartment of a car after a traffic stop along the 800 block of
South Sanderson Avenue. More than $1,500 in cash was also found.

In April, sheriff's deputies in the Valle Vista area seized 124
balloons of heroin worth more than a $2,000 in hidden compartment
after stopping a car for a traffic violation near New Chicago Avenue
and Highway 74.