K9 Officer “ELI” Locates Heroin During A Vehicle Search
On Monday March 30, 2020 at approximately 8:36 pm, Officer Ybarra and his partner K-9 Eli, responded to Keck Park on the report of a suspicious black Honda Accord parked in the parking lot. Officer Ybarra arrived on
scene and located the vehicle. Ybarra contacted the male occupant who was sitting in the driver seat.
Officer Ybarra obtained initial information and was able to identify the driver as 32-year-old Avenal resident, Israel Valenzuela. Valenzuela told officer Ybarra he was waiting for his cousin, because his cousin had the keys to the vehicle, however Officer Ybarra could see the keys to the vehicle in the ignition. Officer Ybarra had Valenzuela exit the vehicle at which time he told Officer Ybarra that there was a meth pipe on the passenger side of the car with meth inside of it. Officer Ybarra ran Eli around the vehicle at which time Eli alerted on the passenger side of the vehicle.
Officer Ybarra then conducted a complete search of the vehicle and located a bottle prescribed to another person. The pill bottle contained, Tramadol, which is a schedule 4 narcotic. Officer Ybarra searched where K9 Officer Eli had alerted to and found a baggy that her later determined contained heroin. Valenzuela was arrested and transported to the Coalinga City Jail where he was booked and later released on a citation to appear in court.
