A costly taco lunch for suspect, 23

LIVINGSTON -- A 23-year-old man may be wishing he ordered in for lunch after deputies say they caught him doing drugs next to a police training facility on Friday afternoon.

Merced County sheriff's deputies arrested Adon Perez on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine, after deputies saw him smoking the drug in a car. Two other people were with Perez.

The car was parked 50 feet from the police training facility and shooting range in Livingston, said Merced County Sheriff's Sgt. Rich Howard.

The three, who work in the area, were on their lunch break eating tacos, and Perez was smoking methamphetamine and marijuana when deputies spotted them, Howard said.

When police asked, Perez got out of the the car and tried to hide a glass pipe, but deputies saw it, Howard added. Perez was booked into Merced County Jail on charges of possession of the drug and drug paraphernalia.

Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209)385-2407 or joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com.