Barquera

Defendant was convicted of the possession of heroin. It was also found that he had suffered a prior narcotics conviction for which he had served a term in the state prison. He has appealed.

Officer Virgin of the Los Angeles Police Department, Narcotics Bureau, arrested defendant at approximately 9:30 p. m. on January 3, 1961. The officer had been investigating defendant for quite some time. He had stopped defendant on three or four occasions for questioning during that period and, with defendant’s consent, had searched him on these occasions. During this investigation the officer had observed defendant in company with numerous persons connected with the narcotics traffic. Two of them were under indictment for narcotic sales and another was on parole for a narcotics offense.

The officer had also received a letter from the El Paso, Texas, Police Department which requested information concerning defendant and revealed that defendant was engaged in the narcotic traffic between El Paso and Los Angeles. The El Paso Police requested information concerning a café which defendant was believed to have owned. The letter also gave a license number for a motor vehicle that defendant owned.…