A 42-year-old Leesburg man was arrested on drug charges while he was dumpster diving behind a strip mall recently.
Ian Nicolas Walker, of 1067 Westmont Road, was charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and two active warrants for failure to pay child support.
A Leesburg Police officer on patrol around 2 p.m. behind the Shoppes of Lake Village, 10601 U.S. 441, observed a man later identified as Walker actively digging through a trash receptacle behind the plaza, Walker told the officer he was looking for edible food and other useful items that had been discarded, according to the police report.
While the officer and Walker were talking, a woman came up to them and said she was with Walker and was also looking for items in the dumpster. At this point, the Leesburg Communications Center informed the officer that Walker had the active warrants, the report said.
While Walker was being detained, the officer received word that the woman also had an active warrant for possession of narcotics. As another officer detained her, Walker spontaneously said there was methamphetamine in his blue backpack. He said the narcotics were his and did not belong to the woman, according to the report.
Once the warrants were confirmed, both Walker and the woman were placed under arrest. The officer searched Walker’s backpack and found a small black sheath that was covering an unused capped syringe and a clear plastic bag containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
Walker was taken to the Lake County Jail, where he was being held Tuesday on $5,160 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on May 3.
