Deputies Respond to Overdose and Discover Illegal Drugs and Weapons

Source: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office

At approximately 10:47 a.m. [Tuesday] morning, Sheriff’s deputies responded with County Fire and AMR to the 700-block of La Roda [near Goleta] for an unconscious subject.

AMR arrived just before deputies and began rendering aid to the patient while deputies interviewed the other residents to try and figure out if the patient may be overdosing. Deputies eventually discovered that the subject had taken pills that were located in a bag nearby. When deputies opened the bag, they found a plastic bag containing blue pills along with a loaded firearm. The pills are believed to be counterfeit M30 pills containing fentanyl. Deputies also noticed two additional loaded firearms in the same room along with an extensive amount of ammunition and magazines, and illegal armor-piercing ammunition rounds.

The patient was revived on scene and transported to an area hospital for further care. A report will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges related to the illegal narcotics and weapons as well as endangerment of children that were in the home and had access to these dangerous illegal items.

Sheriff’s deputies are dispatched to medical calls of unconscious patients and drug overdoses in an effort to get help to patients as quickly as possible. Deputies have administered the fentanyl overdose reversal drug, Naloxone, 21 times in 2020, and 11 times so far in 2021. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau recorded 32 fentanyl overdose deaths in 2020. Statistics for fentanyl overdose deaths in 2021 are pending with at least a dozen suspected cases.