A 21-year-old Leesburg man was arrested with a gun and drugs after a traffic stop in Eustis.
Dominic Degrego, 21, was a passenger in a vehicle at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday which was pulled over for a traffic violation, according to an arrest report from the Eustis Police Department.
The woman who was driving the vehicle provided the officer with a valid driver’s license. The officer found Degrego was wanted on a Lake County warrant charging him with larceny.
The officer spotted a backpack in the backseat which the driver said belonged to Degrego. The backpack contained several items of men’s clothing. It also had in one of the pockets a container with some pills and a crystalline powder which field tested as methamphetamine, according to the arrest report. It also contained drug paraphernalia.
When the officers opened the front passenger door they found a small semi-automatic .380-caliber pistol. The gun was located so the passenger could easily pick up the pistol. The driver said she was not the owner of the gun and did not know it was in the car. When questioned, Degrego denied owning the gun or the backpack. He said that as a convicted felon he would never ride in a car which had a weapon in it. The officers confirmed Degrego’s felony convictions. He was transported to the Lake County Jail. After being removed from the patrol car, an officer found baggies which tested positive for methamphetamine.
He was booked on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, violating the concealed weapons statute, tampering with physical evidence, possession of methamphetamine and possession drug paraphernalia. He was booked at the jail and released after posting $20,000 bond.
