Regional Meth Lab Shut Down, Man Arrested In Napa County

The Napa Special Investigations Bureau arrested a Lodi man Wednesday who is suspected of being a large crystal methamphetamine supplier.

NSIB detectives seized approximately 22 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 50 gallons of solution containing methamphetamine during searches in Lodi, Lt. Gary Pitkin said. Jose Bautista, 40, was booked in the Napa County Jail under $1 million bail on charges of possession, sale and manufacturing of methamphetamine.

The undercover operation began on Super Bowl Sunday in February when detectives met Bautista at a Napa restaurant, where Bautista said he wanted to flood the Napa market with methamphetamine, Pitkin said.

Bautista claimed he could manufacture up to 100 pounds at one time, and could supply a neighboring county with 20-30 pounds a week, Pitkin said. Bautista said his meth trafficking operation was temporarily shut down because the “cookers” who made the drug wanted to enter the United States, but he expected to be back in business shortly, Pitkin said.

The NSIB lost contact with Bautista until Tuesday when detectives asked him if he still was interested in supplying the meth.

Bautista agreed to sell an undercover detective four pounds of meth for $21,200. Pitkin said.

On Wednesday detectives followed Bautista from his ironworks shop on Maxwell Street in Lodi to a Napa restaurant where Bautista was to meet them at 7 p.m., Pitkin said. When Bautista showed the NSIB detective the four pounds of meth, he was arrested by Napa County sheriff’s deputies, Pitkin said.

Detectives found 18 pounds of crystal meth packaged for sale in one-pound quantities and a meth conversion lab at a commercial unit on Maxwell Street in Lodi, Pitkin said.

The potential yield from converting the seized methamphetamine in a liquid solution into crystal meth was estimated to be 50 pounds at $5,300 a pound or $265,000, Pitkin said.

--Bay City News