Westmorland, California - Yesterday at about 4:52pm, An Imperial County Sheriff Deputy working Operation Stonegarden located a parked and unattended Ford F-150 on Highway 86 just north of Westmorland. Due to the vehicle having expired registration it was processed for storage. While conducting an inventory search of the vehicle, several packages of marijuana were discovered inside of the cabin area which led to a more thorough search that revealed additional packages in the spare tire.

Total weight of the marijuana was approximately 68.25 lbs. Both the vehicle and drugs were seized by the Sheriff’s Office for further investigation.

Operation Stone Garden is a federal funded program to provide additional law enforcement and border security in counties and communities along the border. It is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Border Patrol and several local law enforcement agencies that puts more uniformed law enforcement personnel in the field.