Drug busts aplenty

A special team of the Chico Police Department was busy last week with two significant drug busts, confiscating illegal prescription meds among other narcotics.

On Thursday (June 10), during a probation search of a residence on Cedar Street, the Street Crimes Unit first found a bag containing a small amount of methamphetamine. The drug allegedly belonged to Judith Ann McElhaney, 40, who was present at the time of the search. During a subsequent search in the back yard of Don Atsushi Okazaki, 55, detectives found digital scales, packaging material, hydrocodone pills and a whopping 56.64 grams (nearly two ounces) of meth buried two feet underground in a plastic pipe. McElhaney was arrested for possession, while Okazaki faces the additional charge of possession with the intent to sell.

On Friday (June 11), the unit busted parolee Joshua Paul Massey, 30, after locating a plastic case holding close to 300 illicit prescription pills (oxycontin, oxycodone, morphine) attached by magnets to the undercarriage of his vehicle.