As San Jose fights to crack down on drug dealers and prevent an open-air drug market in its city, a significant amount of dangerous drugs are off the streets.
It was a million-dollar bust earlier this month following what police call a month’s-long proactive investigation.
Omar Box, 24, and Laneyia Santos, 19, both of San Jose, were arrested on multiple drug and weapons charges, police said. They are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
“Our patrol officers that work in district SAM, so west San Jose, noticed a rise in illegal narcotics activity and wanted to take matters into their own hands and get to the bottom of it,” said Stacie Shih of the police department.
On July 14, police said they got the green light to search a home on Rubino Drive and found:
- 28,000 adderall pills
- 1,000 fentanyl pills
- 30 pounds of marijuana
- Cocaine
- Meth
- 3 firearms
- $12,000 in cash
They also found the two suspects, each held on $5 million bail.
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“That’s one less child overdose, one less family grieving,” said Shih.
This is just one example of a bigger effort to crack down on drugs -- an effort Mayor Matt Mahan says he’s hoping to intensify by staffing up the PD with the city’s newest budget.
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“We need the staffing levels to do more community policing, more investigations that can lead to these kinds of busts, more follow up investigations,” said Mahan.
San Jose police say these drugs have been associated with numerous overdose deaths.
In May, Santa Clara County reported a spike in fentanyl deaths.
The number more than doubled at the end of May with 41 deaths, compared to 17 recorded deaths at the end of April.
“We need the rest of the system to work hand and glove with our department to provide a holistic solution. We have far too many people in our community who are buying and using those drugs and we have to get in that underlying issue,” said Mahan.
The other piece of the puzzle, according to Mahan, is treatment facilities.
“For some voluntary outpatient treatment is sufficient for others it isn't,” said Mahan.
