$285,000 of meth and marijuana seized in Lake County

Lake County sheriff’s deputies serving a search warrant last week in Clearlake seized 50 pounds of marijuana and more than 5 pounds of methamphetamine, a cache worth a total of about $285,000, the department announced Tuesday.

When detectives approached two neighboring residences around 11:20 a.m. Friday on the 3900 block of Alvita Avenue, they found the 39-year-old Clearlake resident named in the warrant sitting in a vehicle, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The suspect, Meliton Pacheco Rangel, was in possession of roughly an once of methamphetamine and $1,400 in cash, the Sheriff’s Office said. Detectives found nearly 26 pounds of processed marijuana in the vehicle and a shipping receipt for two pounds of marijuana sent to Washington state, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Detectives also searched a mobile home and a cabin on the neighboring Alvita Avenue properties named in the warrant. In the cabin, detectives found four one-pound packages of meth hidden in an oven, two quarter-pound packages of meth in the kitchen and five one-ounce bags of meth in an ice chest, the Sheriff’s Office said. In the mobile home detectives found around 20 pounds of marijuana and about $3,600 hidden throughout the trailer, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Rangel was booked in Lake County Jail on charges including possession of a controlled substance for sale. He is being held on $500,000 bail, the Sheriff’s Office said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nick Rahaim at 707-521-5203 or nick.rahaim@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nrahaim.