Sheriff’s deputies have arrested the owner of a blighted property at 138 Felton Empire Road in Felton on suspicion of possessing ammunition after a woman who shares his home was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and cocaine for sale.
Jack Smith, 74, was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 22, after Edwina Hardy , 53, who lives with him in a mobile home on Kirby Street in Felton, was arrested on suspicion of possessing for sale and transporting cocaine and methamphetamine, being under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license.
According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy saw Hardy driving with a temporary registration sticker and spoke to her after she parked near a mobile home on Kirby Street near Gushee Street.
The deputy found that her license had been suspended for more than a year after a driving-under-the-influence conviction. A search of the vehicle, registered to Hardy and Smith, found more than 13 grams of methamphetamine and 18 grams of cocaine packaged for sale, a scale and $700 cash.
The sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant for the nearby motor home where Smith and Hardy live and found several types of ammunition, an ammunition magazine and about two pounds of marijuana. Smith has a medical recommendation to possess marijuana, and it was not confiscated. Because he has a past felony narcotics conviction that forbids him from possessing bullets, however, he was arrested for having the ammunition.
Smith is the owner of 138 Felton Empire, a blighted home where a number of arrests have been made in the past several weeks. Two residents there, Rachel McGuire and Lonnie Geist, were arrested on drug and weapons charges Feb. 4. The home was red-tagged two days later.
“I’m confident we’re going to get a positive response in the community,” Sgt. Jim Ross said. “There is a connection between the two addresses. It’s the same cars, the same people at both locations. Lo-and-behold it’s almost the same scenario.”
Soon after, Donald Cox was arrested at the home on suspicion of illegally running a television cable line into the van where he was living and possessing drugs.
Then, John Valley was arrested Feb. 20 on suspicion of public nudity and methamphetamine possession at the home, and Geist was arrested again for methamphetamine possession and having a stun gun during a probation search there.
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the Santa Cruz County Planning Department on code compliance at both locations.
“We’re hoping for a long term solution there,” Ross said.
Residents are asked to report further suspicious activity at the house to the Sheriff’s Office by calling 471-1121.
