One person was arrested in Justin Bieber’s home after Los Angeles law enforcement executed a felony search warrant early Tuesday morning, showing up to his Calabasas, Calif., mansion with 12 detectives in about eight patrol cars.
According to TMZ, Bieber’s longtime friend rapper Lil Za was arrested for narcotics possession.
Lt. David Thompson told reporters at a press conference that cocaine was in plain view when deputies entered the home.
The Sheriff’s Dept. was investigating if Bieber was connected to an egg-throwing incident last week that caused damage to a neighbor’s home. They obtained a felony search warrant and entered the home at about 8 a.m. PST.
Thompson said that the team did not know what they would encounter at the home.
“It’s always better to air on the side of safety,” he said. “We did contact seven or eight people in the house so I was thankful we had 12 detectives.”
The search comes just a few days after a neighbor called police claiming that the pop star pelted his home with eggs.
Thompson said they were searching for any evidence that connected Bieber to the incident.
“The houses in that neighborhood are of a quality that any damage is going to be extensive,” he said, adding that the damage to the neighbor’s property was “in the thousands.”
He said while the search was solely related to the egging, he hoped it would curb some of the pop singer’s habits.
“We hope maybe understanding the gravity of this will change some of the behavior,” Thompson said. “We hope that we can give the neighborhood the quality of life that they deserve.”
The singer has struggled to get along with his neighbors in recent months. He’s been accused of hosting all-night parties and driving like a speed demon down his residential streets.
Social media users were quick to react to the news of Bieber’s latest troubles, with some labeling the response excessive.
“Omg a felony raid for an egg throwing incident? Wow no wonder California laid off hundreds of Officer’s. If they do felony raids on eggs imagine what they do for a homicide…” one user wrote on the
Another added, “All this for a stupid egg throwing prank? I agree he’s a little over indulged punk, but wasting these police resources is outrageous!”
Thompson defended the Sheriff Department’s decision to send so many detectives, stating that Bieber’s star status didn’t play into their choice.
“None of this has anything to do with him being a celebrity. This is a felony crime that we determined had evidence,” he said. “We would do this same level of [investigation] to anyone.”