A Leesburg man at the wheel of a silver Mercedes was arrested after leaving a part of the city described in a Leesburg Police Department arrest report as “an area known for narcotic sales and other illegal activities.”
An officer was on patrol Wednesday afternoon when he pulled up behind the Mercedes at a stop sign at the intersection of Pine Street and Penn Street in the Birchwood neighborhood. When the Mercedes made an illegal left turn onto 14th Street, the officer initiated a traffic stop.
The driver, 21-year-old Derond McKenzie, told the officer he had been visiting a friend. McKeznie appeared nervous, refused to make eye contact and was sweating. His hands were shaking as he handed his registration and insurance card to the officer. He spontaneously uttered that he “did not want law enforcement to search his car,” according to the arrest report.
The patrol officer requested assistance from a K-9 officer who brought his dog Nick to the scene. Nick alerted on the Mercedes. The officers asked McKenzie to exit the car. As he did so, the officers noticed a large bulge in his sweat pants. The officer performed a pat down search and found marijuana and 27 pills which tested positive as MDMA, a controlled substance. Cash in the amount of $3,000 was recovered from the center console of the Mercedes.
McKenzie was booked at the Lake County Jail on two counts of possession of controlled substances and one count of resisting arrest without violence. Bond was set at $5,000, which was posted the same day.
