A board-certified Santa Barbara pharmacy technician has been arrested on charges of embezzling prescription pills from his employer and selling them on local streets.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s narcotics detectives arrested the suspect earlier this month, after a six-month investigation, in the 3900 block of Via Lucero Drive in Santa Barbara, according to department spokesman Drew Sugars.
The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Santa Barbara resident David Lopez-Mejia.
Sugars said that during the investigation, detectives learned that Lopez-Mejia may have been involved in the theft of prescription drugs from his workplace, a pharmacy in the 1500 block of State Street.
The suspect agreed to meet with an undercover detective, according to Sugars, and allegedly sold him Oxycontin pills on numerous occasions.
Detectives served a search warrant at Lopez-Mejia’s home in the 3900 block of Via Lucero Drive and recovered evidence of narcotics sales, according to Sugars.
The investigation is continuing.
Lopez-Mejia was charged with sales of a controlled substance and remains in the Santa Barbara County Jail on a no-bail immigration hold.
— Noozhawk managing editor Michelle Nelson can be reached at mnelson@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews.