Massive Drug, Gun Cache Seized In Sonoma County Raids: Police

SANTA ROSA, CA — A months-long investigation by the Santa Rosa Police Department’s Narcotics Team culminated in the arrest of a Cotati man and the seizure of a significant cache of narcotics and firearms on Monday.

Detectives said they initially identified 23-year-old Cotati resident Kevin Garcia-Ortiz in January as a person selling controlled substances in Santa Rosa and the surrounding areas.

On Monday afternoon, SRPD detectives and officers detained Garcia-Ortiz in Petaluma and executed search warrants at two addresses associated with Garcia-Ortiz: one in Cotati and one in Penngrove.

Police said they didn’t find any suspected drugs in Cotati, but the search of the residence in the 5600 block of Old Redwood Hwy in Penngrove uncovered a major drug and weapons haul.

Police said they recovered two handguns — a loaded, privately manufactured 9mm semi-automatic and a Springfield XD-9 9mm — along with ammunition.

Officers said they seized one pound of suspected cocaine, eight ounces of suspected MDMA, and thousands of counterfeit pills.

Detectives said they found about 2,000 counterfeit Adderall pills, believed to contain methamphetamine and/or the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, and 200 counterfeit Oxycodone pills, which are suspected to contain fentanyl. Police said that as little as two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose, and the exact amount in each pill is unknown.

Detectives said they also located thousands of empty capsules and new 1x1 zip-top baggies commonly used for packaging illicit drugs, along with three digital scales.

Garcia-Ortiz, who is a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition, was also on active felony probation in Sonoma County for a prior drug sales case, police said.

He was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County jail on multiple charges, including possession of a narcotic for sale, possession of a controlled substance for sale, violation of probation, and being a felon in possession of both a firearm and ammunition, police said.