Citizens Help Police Find Burglary Suspect, Investigation Leads to Heroin, Meth, Cash

Hemet residents helped police find a vehicle burglary suspect early Tuesday and further investigation led law enforcement to a quantity of heroin, meth, pills and cash, as well as the arrest of a 24-year-old man.

Dispatchers received a call around 4:25 a.m. June 11 about a male suspect trying to steal a vehicle in the 1800 block of Mayflower Place, Hemet police Lt. Eric Dickson said in a statement.

The caller provided a description of the suspect and the way he was last seen going, north on Mayflower, Dickson said.

Police converged on the area and people in the neighborhood flagged down officers to say they'd seen the suspect going through yards, Dickson said. Police set up a perimeter and started a yard-to-yard search. 

An officer with a trained dog arrived and the suspect came out of hiding and ran,, Dickson said. Police caught the man and he struggled but he was taken into custody.

"The suspect provided the officer with another person's name and was found to be in possession of stolen property," Dickson said. "The suspect was identified as Christian Johnson and had seven active misdemeanor arrest warrants and one active felony arrest warrant."

Johnson was taken to Hemet police headquarters on suspicion of the warrants and possession of stolen property, attempted burglary, personate to make another liable, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, and resisting arrest, Dickson said.

"Unrelated to this incident, Cpl. Mouat had previously received information that Johnson had been selling heroin from his home and Cpl. Mouat assisted the officers with further investigation," Dickson said.

Investigation led to seizure of more than twenty grams of heroin, about two grams of methamphetamine, and about 25 prescription pills that were not prescribed to Johnson, Dickson said.

The seized drugs had an estimated street value of more than $2,500, Dickson said. Police also seized more than $1,100 in alleged drug profits.

Johnson was taken to a Riverside County lockup with a bail of more than $100,000, Dickson said. His name did not appear in county booking records Tuesday afternoon.