Full Notification

DATE/TIME: 09/16/20/ 11:02 p.m.

INCIDENT: Subject on PRCS Arrested on Drug Charges

LOCATION: Knickerbocker Rd. & Pennsylvania Ave., Big Bear Lake

SUSPECT(S): Tony Verdusco, 44-year-old resident of Big Bear City

SUMMARY:
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. on September 16, 2020, Deputies from the Big Bear Sheriff's Station conducted a vehicle stop at the intersection of Knickerbocker Road and Pennsylvania Avenue in Big Bear Lake for a traffic violation. The driver was identified as Tony Verdusco, a resident of Big Bear City. Verdusco was found to be on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS), generated by a previous felony narcotics conviction out of Los Angeles County. As part of former Governor Jerry Brown's 2011 Realignment Plan (AB109), in order to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring the State of California to lower its prison population, offenders with non-violent, non-sexual, and non-serious convictions were allowed to serve reduced sentences in County jails, and then placed on PRCS through the County's Probation Department after being released.

During a search of Verdusco's vehicle on the traffic stop, Deputies located approximately 24 grams of methamphetamine, tar heroin, and paraphernalia consistent with drug use. Verdusco was arrested and released on a citation from the Big Bear Jail on misdemeanor charges of possession of controlled substances, and possession of paraphernalia. Tony Verdusco is scheduled to appear in San Bernardino County Superior Court on November 20, 2020.

Prior to the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014 (commonly referred to as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act), this crime would have been classified as a felony.


Refer: Tiffany Swantek, Media Relations

Station: Big Bear Sheriff's Station

Phone No. (909) 866-0100

Case No. 162000771

JOHN McMAHON, Sheriff-Coroner
San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department