Hit-and-run turns into drug bust

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

What appeared to be a hit-and-run in a Mesa neighborhood on Wednesday night turned into a methamphetamine bust that yielded about $1,000 in drug money.
Lt. Paul McCaffrey, a Santa Barbara Police spokesman, said an officer on routine patrol near the Flora Vista neighborhood at 9:30 p.m., heard what sounded like a vehicle accident and spotted a solitary pair of tail lights fleeing the area. He said the officer followed the vehicle, a 1990 Cadillac, two blocks before it came to a stop on Channing Avenue, where the driver, identified as Inez Montalvo, 29, got out and began walking away.

“Aided by his spotlight, the officer noticed a ‘glittery’ substance resembling ‘shards of glass’ falling from Montalvo’s clothing,” McCaffrey said. “Police examined the glittery trail left in Montalvo’s wake. They determined it was suspected crystal methamphetamine, also known as ‘Ice.’”
McCaffrey said more methamphetamine was found in Montalvo’s pocket and a police K-9 sniffed an additional stash of the drug in the vehicle's center console.
He said Montalvo’s vehicle sustained extensive front end damage as a result of the collision.
Had an officer not been nearby, McCaffrey said, “It’s very likely it would have been just another unsolved hit-and-run.”
Though the suspect fled the the scene of the accident, McCaffrey said once out of his vehicle, Montalvo did not attempt to flee and was arrested without incident.
Montalvo told police he was driving eastbound on Cliff Drive when he received a phone call.
“The distraction of answering the phone caused him to drift to the right and collide with [a] parked truck,” McCaffrey said. “Montalvo was booked for possession of methamphetamine for sales, transportation of meth and hit-and-run.”
McCaffrey said a Santa Barbara City Fire crew responded to the scene to wash away the methamphetamine that could not be collected by police.