A man staying at Justin Bieber's house was arrested on a felony narcotics violation when deputies searched the house Tuesday after an allegation that the pop star had egged a neighbor's home, a sheriff's official said.
"Cocaine was in plain view" of deputies, Sheriff's Lt. Dave Thompson said at a news conference Tuesday.
Thompson didn't identify the man but said Bieber was not connected to the arrest.
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.
