Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies descended on the Calabasas, Calif., mansion of Justin Bieber on Tuesday to serve a search warrant in connection with an allegation that the pop star egged a neighbor's house.
A man staying at Bieber's house was arrested on a felony narcotics violation during the search, Sheriff's Lt. Dave Thompson said at a news conference Tuesday. He said "cocaine was in plain view" of deputies.
Thompson said that the arrest was unrelated to the reason for the search and that Bieber was not connected to the arrest. The man was not identified.
Thompson, in charge of the detectives bureau at the Sheriff's Department's Malibu Lost Hills station, said the man was among seven or eight people at Bieber's house when the search by a dozen deputies began Tuesday morning.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said earlier that the search warrant involved probable cause for felony vandalism, and a statement from the department said the homeowner estimated the damage at $20,000.
"I get that the eggs don't seem to have significance," Thompson said, but the amount of alleged damage bumped the case up to a felony.
"A felony crime is a felony crime, no matter how you commit it," he said. "This could be Mr. Bieber, this could be you, this could be me."
The department's earlier statement said detectives were seeking "video surveillance or other possible evidence in the vandalism that occurred on Jan. 9." There was damage to a "decorative facade" on the neighbor's home on Prado De Grandioso, sheriff's officials said.
Initial reports of the egging incident last week indicated that a neighbor and his daughter watched from a balcony as the 19-year-old singer pelted a home in the community with eggs.
Bieber's representative, Melissa Victor, has not commented on the report.
Bieber's antics within his double-gated Calabasas neighborhood – including loud parties and an incident in which he allegedly drove his Ferrari at freeway speeds through the residential neighborhood – have been chronicled in numerous tabloid reports
In May 2012, a photographer said Bieber struck him after he took photos of Bieber and singer Selena Gomez at a Calabasas Shopping Center. No charges were filed.
The same summer, another photographer was arrested on reckless driving and other charges after allegedly pursuing Bieber at high speed along a Los Angeles freeway. The case was eventually dismissed.
Last May, former NFL player Keyshawn Johnson said he called the cops and confronted Bieber after the pop star sped through the neighborhood at high speed.
