Man arrested on suspicion of selling meth at Glendale homeless encampment
A local transient was arrested by Glendale police for allegedly selling narcotics near a homeless encampment Tuesday, according to authorities.
Officers from the Glendale Police Department were surveilling the encampment, set up underneath the Glendale (2) Freeway overpass on Broadway, after receiving multiple tips of a man selling methamphetamine at the location. Tahnee Lightfoot, a spokeswoman with the department, said Arthur Garza had multiple people coming and going from his tent who exhibited behavior consistent with a drug sale.
Lightfoot said the people leaving Garza’s tent were known by officers to be drug users or had been previously booked on a narcotics charge in the past.
After an hour of observing Garza, Lightfoot said the officers then saw him enter the car of another man to engage in another drug deal.
When officers went to detain the driver, Lightfoot said he threw a bag of methamphetamine onto the street that was later recovered by police.
Officers also detained Garza and found him in possession of multiple bags of meth and money in an amount consistent with the street price of the bag discarded by the driver. After searching his tent, Lightfoot said police recovered more meth as well as a digital scale and the replica of a handgun.
Garza was booked on suspicion of selling meth and of transporting the drug for the purpose of selling. He is being held at Glendale City Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
