Santa Cruz police say they've arrested a man in possession of a "full heroin injection kit" following the spotting of a stolen car in town.
The agency is giving credit to an alert parking enforcement officer who saw the stolen car in the 100 block of Church Street on Thursday, according to a press release from the Santa Cruz Police Department.
Officers then waited for someone to return to the vehicle-- a man identified as 30-year-old David Gomez-- and pulled him over, arresting him at gunpoint, according to the release.
"This is standard protocol for stolen cars," police said. " The tactic used is what we call a 'high-risk' car stop. You just never know what the driver of the stolen car has been up to or what they are planning."
Once Gomez was detained, officers searched the car and found several illegal items, police said.
Not only did they recover a loaded revolver, but they also found what police described as a "heroin injection kit" containing needles, tie-offs, alcohol wipes and cooking caps, cotton balls.
"All packaged in a tidy plastic container, like the kind you would use for your fishing lures," police said. "Wrong kind of fishing though….these lures will only catch the 'Brown Tar Heroin Jellyfish'."
Gomez— a probationer with ties to the Sureno street gangs— was taken to the county jail and booked on several felony charges, according to police.
"As for the stolen car, it was returned to the rightful owner," police said.
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