People v. Tindle CA1/4

BACKGROUND

In late 2021, a Eureka police officer, Dustin Nantz, began investigating Alejandro Luna for drug trafficking. Using GPS trackers, Nantz identified three vehicles that Luna drove. One of those vehicles, a Ford pickup, was frequently located at the home of Tindle’s mother, Rita S., where Nantz knew Tindle stayed. Confidential informants told Nantz that Luna was storing large amounts of drugs at Tindle’s home. Nantz also identified another associate of Luna named William Egan. In December 2021, Nantz noticed that one of Luna’s vehicles was on its way back to Humboldt County from Modesto, a known source location for drug trafficking. Nantz and other law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle. Luna was not in the vehicle, but it contained four pounds of methamphetamine. Nantz searched Luna’s residence and found a small digital scale

2 with a crystalline substance on the weighing section and four grams of methamphetamine. Nantz found a quarter pound of methamphetamine at Egan’s residence. Later the same day, Nantz finally searched Rita S.’s home in Eureka, arriving between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. They knocked and announced, and Tindle answered the door pretty quickly.…