A small but meaningful victory was reached for the Cal State Long Beach Campus Police as a drug deal in process was thwarted and one suspect was arrested and now resides at a local jail on two felony counts that include possession of marijuana and the sale and transportation of illicit drugs.
On April 20, at approximately 2:00 p.m., a police camera operator noticed some suspicious activity as he was monitoring the area of Earl Warren Drive and parking lot fourteen D and notified local authorities to investigate the area. As officers made their way to the scene they were informed by other members of the University Police that they had witnessed a transaction between the suspect and another person through the University Police cameras. Captain Fernando Solorzano says that the suspect was seen handing out a green container to the other person. Upon arriving at the scene near Earl Warren drive, the arresting officer noticed the suspect, a Hispanic male, about 5 foot 9 with brown hair between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five in a black Chrysler PT Cruiser ( it was later determined to be from the year 2001), driving around the parking lot. . The suspect, who would later be identified as Michael Peter Quiros, was seen trying to talk and get the attention of CSULB students as they walked by.
When the officers approached Quiros, 18, he immediately admitted to the officers that he had marijuana in his possession. Upon searching his car, the officers found another green container that contained a green leafy substance. It would later be determined to be 1.5 grams of marijuana. Quiros later confessed to trying to sell that marijuana. Quiros was cited and arrested for the possession of marijuana and the illegal distribution of narcotics at approximately 2:30 pm.
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| This is a quieter more drug free parking lot 14d. Photo take by Cesar Mondragon |
For history major Rick Sanchez, this comes as no surprise given the significance of the day “You would think that the cops would be on the lookout for any type of drug activity, whether I’d be the stoners or dealers because of the fact that it was 4/20.” The date (4/20) is considered to be the St. Patrick’s Day for marijuana but on this day it did not result in many police incidents, at least not on campus. On that day, the campus police was called to investigate areas around CSULB nine times. Of those nine, only one of the calls ended up being a marijuana complaint said Captain Solorzano. Other departments like the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol do organize more traffic sobriety checkpoints just as a precaution to ensure that there is no increase in accidents caused by “driving while being high.” The campus police take no special measure because as the previous numbers showed, there is no need to. Rick Sanchez later joked “You know, the guy that got arrested probably doesn’t even come here (Cal State Long Beach) he just does his business here.” It should be noted that Michael Quiros is not enrolled at Cal State Long Beach and gave officers his full cooperation.
From April 14 to May 16 there were a total of nine marijuana complaints that led the University Police to the parking lots, residential commons, and Los Cerritos Hall of the CSULB campus, according to the Police media log which can be found at activitylog.upd.csulb.edu/. Quiros has been the first marijuana related arrest made.
Fifth year senior Wendy Cortez sees this as a reoccurring problem among colleges, “I understand that it’s college and there is a lot of new experiences out there, but I feel that the number one goal should be to get an education. People pay a lot of money to attend this University and when you hear about crimes and people being involved with drugs on campus it makes you think why they are risking something so valuable like an education.”
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| This graph from 2007 shows the frequency of Marijuana use from colleges across the United State. It shows were students smoke pot the most between off campus, dorm and Greek housing. This study was done by the national center for addiction and substance abuse. Graphic taken from data360.org |
Freshman Daniel Gonzales shows sympathy for the Quiros “I’m not condoning what the guy did but being only a year older myself, I can’t tell you that it’s a good thing that he is going to jail. Hopefully he learned his lesson and changes his life, I wish him luck.”
Quiros was booked at the Long Beach Police station at 7:25 pm. He was released on April 21, after a $20,000 bail was posted.
