Cash, Marijuana Seized From Arrested Camper

Arcata conducts later search of storage unit, find LSD, psilocybin

Humboldt Sentinel
12/5/08
By Sentinel Staff

ARCATA -- Police officers responding to a routine rousting of an on-street camper scored a felony arrest yesterday for drug possession and sales.

The Arcata Police Department received a report of a subject camping in his vehicle on Panorama Drive, and located Jason Abels, 21, of Arcata, along with a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, which resulted in a search by officer Don Arminio. He located several individually packaged bags of marijuana, along with $2,091 in cash.

Abels was arrested initially for possession of marijuana with an intent to sell, but a further investigation revealed him as the owner of a storage unit elsewhere in town. After a search warrant was obtained for the unit, officers recovered from the scene a total of three shotguns, two rifles, a handgun, and assorted ammunition for these weapons.

While Abels has not yet been charged with any weapons violations, APD officers also found additional quantities of marijuana in the unit, along with psilocybin mushrooms and a substance which is suspected to be LSD. Abels was additionally charged at the county jail with possession of a controlled substance and possession of illegal mushrooms.