The son of the longtime mayor of Orange Cove was arrested Wednesday for alleged drug possession following a two-month investigation by the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
Victor Lopez Jr., 43, is being investigated for identity theft, sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said. Deputies had a warrant to search for narcotics and evidence of identity theft when they searched Lopez's home about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
He was arrested after drugs were found in his home, on Sumner Avenue on the western edge of the city.
Additionally, deputies found property in Lopez's house that Curtice said may have been stolen from the city of Orange Cove.
Frank Steenport, chief of the new Orange Cove Police Department, said that the large, two-story house is owned by comedian Paul Rodriguez, a friend of Mayor Victor Lopez.
Victor Lopez Jr.
Deputies also searched a home in south Orange Cove on Wednesday. Curtice said a person they were looking for at the house was not home. He would not identify the person.
In an interview early in the day, Mayor Lopez said the deputies were searching his son's house because of confusion over who owned property there.
He said that his brother, Miguel Lopez, had left two security systems in Victor Lopez Jr.'s home several months ago with the intention of picking them up later. The mayor said the equipment belonged to a South Korean company and had been displayed in the city's community center for several years. He said that Miguel Lopez was planning to ship it back to the company.
Steenport said sheriff's investigators are in the process of contacting that company to see whether Lopez's story is true.
"Everything needs to be verified," Steenport said. He said several city employees examined the property found in Lopez's house on Wednesday, but said he did not know whether they determined whether any of it belonged to the city.
Orange Cove police are not in charge of the investigation, Steenport said, but his department is cooperating with the sheriff's office.
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