Coca-Cola Machine Yields Cache, Catch
Hawthorne police arrested five people--for allegedly trying to get coke out of a Coke machine.
Investigating an attempted burglary at an auto repair shop, officers discovered cocaine with a street value estimated at $20,000 hidden inside a vandalized Coca-Cola machine, a police spokesman said Monday.
Police Sgt. John Beerling explained that the machine was evidently being used as a place of concealment by a cocaine distributor, but somehow a package of the drug had fallen inside.
The “burglary” Sunday had been someone’s botched attempt to retrieve the cocaine, he said.
A few hours afterward, officers responding to another burglary report at the same location arrested Leticia Bretado, 18, and Rafael Perez, 25, of Los Angeles. Still later in the evening, Victor Cardenas, 26, and Bernal Aparicio, 28, both of Los Angeles, and Vincent Garcia, 30, of Compton were taken into custody after yet another vandalization of the Coke machine.
Beerling said all were booked on suspicion of tampering with the machine--and conspiracy to possess cocaine for sale.
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