North County pro-skater charged in federal meth distribution case

A North County professional skateboarder is being charged in a federal drug distribution case months after a search of his Encinitas home turned up heroin, methamphetamine and Xanax.

Robert Vincent Lorifice, 30, was arrested by the Sheriff’s Department following the Sept. 26 search of his home on Blossom Field Way and is facing drug charges in two separate cases in San Diego Superior Court.

A federal arrest warrant has now been issued.

Lorifice grew up in Encinitas, perfecting his craft at the Magdalena Ecke YMCA and being mentored by the county’s older generation of skating stars, including Tony Hawk, according to a 2010 profile in The Coast News.

He is an X-Games veteran competitor and won a bronze medal for Best Air in 2010.

Sheriff’s detectives had to force their way into his home to serve the search warrant. They found Lorifice in the master bedroom, his hands wet with water all over the floor of the master bath, according to the complaint. Evidence suggests he had been trying to flush drugs down the toilet.

Detectives found drugs in an open safe in one closet and thousands in cash in a closed safe in another closet. Various drugs were found elsewhere in the room, and traces of drugs in Tupperware and baggies were found in the bathroom. Drugs and cash were also found in rooms occupied by other people.

In all, detectives seized a pound of meth, half-pound of heroin, 850 Xanax pills that may be counterfeit, psilocybin mushrooms, 200 grams of marijuana, about $17,000 in cash, according to the complaint and the Sheriff’s Department.

Lorifice told detectives at the time that he was not selling drugs and that someone else had left them at his home, but he was afraid to get rid of them, the complaint states.

One of the home’s other occupants told detectives that she had bought an ounce of meth from Lorifice for $200 a few weeks earlier.

The District Attorney’s Office has charged Lorifice and two others with a slew of drug possession for sale charges relating to the stash.

Lorifice and a woman are also facing separate charges related to a Dec. 14 incident in which they are accused of possessing heroin and meth for sale, as well as possessing cocaine, according to court records. He is also charged with destroying evidence.

— Kristina Davis is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune