$1 Million in drugs, cash and guns recovered by APD at hotel
Officers in APD’s Northeast Area Command recovered several guns, $1 million in drugs, and $47,000 in cash during what started as a routine arrest on a warrant at a hotel on Friday.
The officers were doing proactive patrol when they spotted a vehicle in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn, located at Menaul Blvd and University Blvd., N.E. They discovered the registered owner, Merena Perez, had a felony warrant for robbery and determined she was staying in a room at the hotel. As they made contact and detained Perez outside the room, one of the officers noticed drug paraphernalia and a firearm on the bed. They asked a man to step out of the room so he could be detained, and he started running from officers.
The man, later identified as Xavier Garcia, jumped from the second floor of the hotel and an officer chased him across the intersection of Menaul and University.
Additional officers responded to the motel and launched a drone to search the area for Garcia. They spotted Garcia crossing the street, jumping a wall and hiding near a nearby hotel.
Officers rushed to the spot where he was hiding and took Garcia into custody. Officers determined Garcia had several felony and misdemeanor warrants for his arrest.
Officers at the original scene conducted a protective sweep of the hotel room and located a large quantity of narcotics, cash and firearms. The room was sealed pending a search warrant completed by the narcotics unit.
Located in the room was the following:
· $47,227 in cash
· 522 grams of heroin
· 2344 grams of cocaine
· 6142 grams of fentanyl
· 4 firearms (3 handguns, 1 AK-47)
The estimated street value of all narcotics seized was well over $1 million.
Garcia and Perez were arrested on their warrants. Additional charges will be added as detectives investigate the drugs, guns and cash that were found in the hotel room.
