UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: Readers understandably have questions about why the two suspects in this large-scale heroin bust were booked and released on their own recognizance. 

Sgt. Mike Guy of the EPD’s Problem Oriented Policing unit told the Outpost this afternoon that he did not know the reason — that it would be a question for the jail. 

Lt. Wayne Hanson, spokesperson for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, is just back from vacation and was not immediately familiar with the case. However, he made a quick call down to the jail office and found out that the “matrix” that the jail uses to determine whether or not an offender can be held, depending on the severity of the alleged crime and the current jail population, would, in fact, permit a book-and-release of a person found with just over a pound of heroin, so long as that person was local and had a clean rap sheet, with no record of violence.

“It’s feasible he could get OR’d with 1.1 pounds of heroin,” Hanson said, ruefully. “Welcome to 2015.”

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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

Pedro Sierra Pozos

Gilberto Giron Ramirez

Over the past several months, the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit has been conducting an investigation into heroin trafficking within the Eureka area. As a result of that investigation, officers and detectives with the Eureka Police Department served multiple Search Warrants in Fortuna on Tuesday, 09/01/15.

The warrant services resulted in the seizure of approximately 1.1 lbs. of heroin, 2.7 grams of methamphetamine and $16,000.00 cash. Gilberto Giron-Ramirez (40) of Fortuna, was arrested for Possession of Heroin, Possession of Heroin for Sales and Conspiracy. Pedro Sierra-Pozos (43) also of Fortuna was arrested for Possession of Heroin, Possession of Heroin for Sales, Possession of Methamphetamine and Conspiracy.

Both Giron-Ramirez and Sierra-Pozos were transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where they were booked then released on their own recognizance.

*Anyone with information concerning suspected drug activity, or other nuisances occurring in the City of Eureka is encouraged to call the Problem Oriented Policing Unit at (707) 441-4373.