Routine Traffic Stop Yields Meth, Guns and Needles

Storage units and search warrants: the buzz words of the month in Santa Cruz County.

On Aug. 30, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant on a Scotts Valley apartment in their bust of a county-wide identity theft ring. Last week, a man was impaled by a pointed fence post at a storage facility on Portola Drive when he forgot the gate code and tried to hop the fence. 

The themes continued late Sunday and early Monday when the Sheriff's Office served a search warrant on a Capitola Road Extension storage unit and recovered two guns, ammunition and drug paraphernalia.

At 11 p.m. Sunday, John Sjobeck, 44, of Santa Cruz was pulled over at Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue for having a covered license plate and a broken brake light. But the deputy who made the stop found much more than vehicle code violations.

A search of Sjobeck turned up a concealed knife, methamphetamine, prescription pills and burglary tools, Deputy April Skalland told Patch. 

"They found 88.7 grams of meth in his sock. That's a lot," Skalland said. "And all different kinds of pills."

Sjobeck was arrested on charges of possession of a dagger, possession of burglary tools, possession of narcotics for sale, appropriation of stolen property, identity theft and forgery.

When deputies learned that Sjobeck was on probation and rented a storage locker, they issued a search warrant and made their way to the Live Oak storage facility around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

The storage search unearthed a 45 milimeter revolver, a double barrel shotgun and "a ton of different types of ammo," Skalland said. "So he's a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition."

Sunday's run-in is far from Sjobeck's first rodeo with law enforcement.

"He's a well-known guy to us. He's a safety risk," Skalland said. "We've dealt with him before. He's a dangerous guy."

Score another one for the Sheriff's Office.