Authorities find more than $27K in heroin stashed under floorboard in Watsonville

More than $27,000 worth of heroin, several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were seized following a multi-agency operation in Watsonville.

Watsonville Police Department’s Special Response Unit assisted the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team in serving a narcotics search warrant on the 1600 block of E. Lake Avenue, Saturday.

The California Highway Patrol’s K9 Buddy sniffed out 138 grams of heroin stashed under a floorboard.

An assault rifle, a shotgun, two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were also found at the home.

Andy Viorato-Briseno, 23, was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail for possession of narcotics while armed and possession of a controlled substance for sale.

Officers also served a second narcotics search warrant at a residence on the 800 block of Vista Montana Drive. They recovered evidence of drug sales but no arrest were made.

Authorities said the search warrants were served after the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team conducted a three-month investigation on a group of people selling drugs in the Watsonville area.

“They also had information that the drug dealers were heavily armed and because of this, our SRU and the Santa Cruz Police Emergency Service Unit were called in for help,” Watsonville police said in a written statement.