On August 26, 2010, Tulare County Superior Court Judge Gary Paden imposed a prison sentence of seven years on 27-year-old Jason Luciano Ruiz of Visalia.

On July 1, 2010, Ruiz pled guilty to numerous felony acts including, transportation of methamphetamine, two counts of possession of methamphetamine for sale and accompanying special allegations of being armed with a firearm, maintaining a place for selling a controlled substance, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a felon, possession of stolen property, one count of being under the influence of a controlled substance with a firearm, failing to register as a sex offender and a misdemeanor count of possession of a smoking device. When Ruiz entered his plea, he also admitted a prior violent felony conviction.

On June 14, 2009, police officers received information that the defendant had failed to register as a sex offender for a past sex-related offense. Officers were initially unable to locate the defendant.

On May 8, 2010, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s residence. The defendant was located leaving the residence upon the arrival of the officers. He was immediately stopped by the officers. Pursuant to the search warrant, a search of the defendant’s car was performed. Two separate baggies each containing a gram of methamphetamine were located upon the defendant’s person. At the defendant’s residence officers located a stolen .38 caliber Taurus revolver, a stolen 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, $2,646 in cash, surveillance cameras, packaging material, a methamphetamine pipe and over two additional grams of methamphetamine.

The defendant admitted to police that he failed to register as a sex offender and that he had been selling methamphetamine for the past three months.

These cases were prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Mikki Verissimo and Matt Darby and investigated by officers Mike Verissimo, Mike Carsten and Mike Chamberlain of the Visalia Police Department.

Contact Person: Assistant District Attorney, Shani Jenkins (559) 733-6411