A man was arrested this week for allegedly trying to run a baggie of cocaine through security at the Mendocino County courthouse in Ukiah, according to the local sheriff’s office.

Pablo Reyes-Sanchez, 24, of Willits pulled the baggie from his pants pocket at the entrance checkpoint at about 8:20 a.m. Wednesday, said sheriff’s Capt. Gregory Van Patten.



“When you come up to the security checkpoint, there is an x-ray machine and you’re supposed to empty the contents of your pockets and anything metal into a tray that goes through a scanning machine,” Van Patten said. “When he went to empty the contents of his pocket, out came this baggie of cocaine.”

The baggie allegedly held about half a gram of the drug, a small amount but enough to catch the attention of the courthouse security detail. When deputies questioned Reyes-Sanchez about the drugs, “He used the ‘These aren’t my pants’ defense,” according to Van Patten.

“He said it wasn’t even his cocaine and that the pants weren’t even his,” said the captain, “but he wouldn’t elaborate on why he was wearing somebody else’s pants.”

Sheriff deputies discovered that Reyes-Sanchez was wanted on a felony warrant for allegedly making criminal threats, and booked him into county jail on the warrant and also on suspicion of drug possession. He has since been released on $70,000 bail. Van Patten said he didn’t know why Reyes-Sanchez was visiting the courthouse in the first place.