Ubaldo Mendez in county lockup pending extradition out of the US
Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel
The Problem Oriented Policing unit continues its campaign against drug traffickers in the local community.
Eureka Police Department POP members arrested Ubaldo Mendez at 2:30 p.m. yesterday on charges of possession of heroin for sale as well as trafficking heroin. The EPD found Mendez at the Bear River Casino gas station in Loleta, where they seized an ounce of heroin from his vehicle.
The unit acted upon intelligence which informed them that street-level heroin dealers from Eureka were traveling to the casino mini mart to meet their connection and purchase one-ounce quantities of smack.
The name which arose concerning the heroin connection went by “Shorty” and an EPD detective called his phone number to place a heroin order. According to a press statement by EPD chief Murl Harpham, the subject answering to the name of Shorty told the detective to go to the Loleta Casino gas station and call back after he arrived. Shortly thereafter, the cop called Shorty back and told him he was at the gas station; “Shorty” replied that his runner would be there in ten minutes.
The POP detective, disguised in plain clothes, was in the parking lot waiting when the suspect known as Shorty called back to ask why he hadn’t contacted the runner; the detective was then informed that the runner was already in the parking lot driving a white sports utility vehicle. Upon scanning the parking lot, the cop saw only one white SUV, a white Ford Expedition.
The undercover policeman drove past the SUV, making eye contact with the driver, and parked three spaces away. The driver exited the SUV as the cop exited his vehicle, making eye contact again. At this point, according to the EPD, the detective displayed his police badge and approached the runner in the driver’s seat of the SUV as another POP vehicle blocked it in from the rear and another POP detective approached the runner from the passenger side. Mendez was then arrested without incident, and upon searching the truck, an ounce of heroin was found in the cupholder on the console.
Mendez was found to have more than $700 cash on his person, as well as an uncashed paycheck from a dairy in Ferndale. He was taken to Humboldt County jail, where he remains, as he has been determined to be an illegal alien who was previously deported from the country.
