Routine traffic stop leads to pot bust, two arrests

A routine traffic stop led to the arrest of two Delano residents accused of transporting marijuana for sale.

The traffic stop happened at 12:11 p.m. Thursday, on Highway 65, south of Avenue 80. The California Highway Patrol said an officer pulled over a Jeep Cherokee for a traffic violation. The officer contacted the driver, later identified as 42-year-old Roberto Garcia, and asked for his driver’s license.

According to the CHP, Garcia said he didn’t have a driver’s license and the officer decided to impound the jeep.

The officer placed Garcia and the passenger, 34-year-old Eulalio Orozco, in his patrol car for safety and conducted an inventory of the car. During the inventory, the officer found a large plastic tray with about 80 small marijuana plants in the back of the Jeep, the CHP said.

Both men were arrested and booked into the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department’s substation in Porterville on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, transportation of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.