The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested four people last week suspected of trying to smuggle narcotics into the county’s jail in Murrieta, the department reported.
It’s the second time within months investigators have said they busted up such a scheme.
Deputies served search warrants in Hemet on Jan. 26, seizing three handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, $13,000, a little more than 2 grams of methamphetamine, 14 grams of cocaine, 16 grams of heroin and evidence of check fraud.
The department ultimately arrested four people, one who was already in custody at the Cois Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta. As of Monday, they had been booked but none had been formally charged by the district attorney.
Marcos Lares, 22, of Hemet, was in possession of an unregistered firearm and accused of providing narcotics to a person in correctional facility, according to the department. He was released on $30,000 bail on Jan. 27.
Carlos Vitela, 21, is accused of conspiring to smuggle narcotics into a correctional facility. He has been in custody at the Murrieta jail on a murder charge for about a year.