Hermilo Simon, 39, of Patterson, was booked for possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia and parole violation after officers checked out his suspicious behavior as he sat in a car parked in a darkened area behind a store on Tuesday morning, Feb. 21.

Officer Charles Rushing and Kevin Sakasegawa were conducting extra patrols of the northern part of Ceres due to flooding and power outages at 2:54 a.m. when they spotted Simon's vehicle parked behind the AM/PM at Hatch Road and Richland Avenue. A records check revealed the driver was on parole for the transportation of narcotics so a parole search was conducted. Officers found a black case under the hood containing several glass pipes, a digital scale, a syringe, a plastic baggie containing methamphetamine and several empty plastic baggies.

Simon was booked and his vehicle was towed.