A Leesburg man was arrested after police found crack cocaine and a pipe in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
At around 11 p.m. Sunday, a Leesburg Police officer parked in the area of West Main Street and U.S. Highway 27 observed a Jeep leaving the parking lot of the Deluxe Motel without stopping before entering North 14th Street.
The officer conducted a traffic stop in the area of North Truett and West Main streets and spoke with the driver, Neil Renard Brown, 57, of 2300 Jobbins Drive. After providing his license, registration and proof of insurance, Brown was asked if he had anything illegal in his vehicle. At first he said he didn’t, but later admitted to having a crack pipe, according to the police report.
Brown refused to give permission to search the vehicle, so the officer asked for the department’s K-9 unit to respond. The K-9 conducted an open-air sniff for narcotics in the vehicle and gave a positive alert, the report said.
Brown allowed the officer to pat him down and said he only had a small piece of brillow in his right pocket. It was removed along with a cigarette lighter. The vehicle search turned up a glass tube with burnt black residue commonly referred to as a “stem” that is used to smoke narcotics. Also found in the vehicle was a small white rock that later tested positive for cocaine, according to the report.
Brown was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of drug equipment. He also received a written warning for failure to stop before entering a roadway. He’s being held on $2,000 bond in the Lake County Jail and will appear in Lake County Court on March 1.
