Buena Park : Man Finds Suitcase Holding Drugs, Guns

A man on his way out to work walked down his driveway Tuesday morning and noticed a small leather suitcase near one of his truck’s tires, police said.

“He thought it was something that belonged to his kids,” said Officer Terry Branum. “So he opened it up.”

Instead of toys, the man found a drug dealer’s gold mine: $80,000 worth of cocaine, $400 worth of high-grade marijuana, narcotics paraphernalia and two loaded handguns, Branum said.

“It was like your dope bag to go,” he said.

Police would not identify the resident, who told investigators that he discovered the bag about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Inside, he found a 525.5-gram brick of cocaine--about the size of 10 soap bars in a row--a plastic bag containing 6.6 ounces of marijuana and the two loaded weapons, a 9-millimeter handgun and a .357 revolver, Branum said. He said baking soda, which is sometimes used to pad cocaine, also was in the bag, along with other drug-packaging paraphernalia.

Branum called the finder a “clean-cut, middle-class family man” who was concerned about the safety of his wife and children.

“This poor guy is scared. It’s like something out of ‘Miami Vice,’ ” he said.

Branum said officers will patrol the neighborhood near Santa Teresa Circle and Santa Fe Drive to ensure that none of the residents are rousted by the person who misplaced the suitcase.

“You don’t just decide to kick the habit and throw it in the street,” Branum said. “I suspect if it (the cocaine) is pure, somebody’s out of a lot of money and they’re probably going to be looking for it.”

Branum added that papers found inside the bag may lead to the owner’s identity.