Thanks to Rango, a drug-sniffing sheriff’s K-9, and dogged prosecutors who pursued a drug case over nearly four years, a meth trafficker is headed to state prison.
Jose Maria Carranza was sentenced to 22 years and four months behind bars by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Patrick Smalling earlier this week, the District Attorney’s office reported. The sentence was handed down almost four years after Carranza’s arrest, in which authorities say he was found to have two guns and 60 pounds of methamphetamine in his car.
The heavy sentence reflected not only the ample load of narcotics involved, but the fact that Carranza already had two strikes against him. The earlier convictions came in 2003 for being a gang member in possession of a firearm and in 2010 for solicitation to commit a gang murder, prosecutors said.
Carranza’s latest conviction stems from the quick-thinking actions of a suspicious sheriff’s deputy and his alert K-9.
The deputy pulled over Carranza in November 2022 after observing the car he was driving was tailgating another vehicle. Authorities say Carranza acted nervous during the traffic stop, so out came Rango for a stroll around the car. Right away, the K-9 officer signaled, indicating drugs were present, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reported a day after the bust.
Carranza, 38 at the time, was booked after a search uncovered 60 pounds of meth in about 50 large plastic bags. In addition, one loaded pistol was found under the driver’s seat and another was discovered in the car’s trunk, along with the drugs, the DA’s office reported.
“Sixty pounds of methamphetamine and two loaded firearms are a recipe for violence and devastation in our community,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement. “We will not tolerate drug traffickers who put lives at risk and bring this level of danger onto our streets.”
Rango retired in February after a long, successful career in which he was deployed more than 270 times and found not only large caches of narcotics but over $100,000 in cash as well.
“We are deeply grateful for his service and sacrifices, and we wish K-9 Rango a well-earned and happy retirement with his two-legged family,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time.