A seat belt violation led to a Leesburg man’s felony arrest early Monday morning on drug charges.
A Lake County sheriff’s deputy was on traffic patrol when he saw a white Impala traveling south on County Road 468. The deputy slowed as the Impala passed him and he could clearly see that the driver was wearing a neon yellow shirt. The deputy saw that the driver was not wearing his seat belt.
The deputy stopped the Impala at the intersection of Griffin Road and Cabin Street. As the Impala pulled into a driveway the deputy saw a black toiletry bag thrown from the passenger side window. When the deputy got out of his patrol car he observed the Impala’s driver, 44-year-old Demetrius Jerome Ingram, exit the car without having to remove a seatbelt. The deputy detained Ingram and then retrieved the black bag where he discovered several baggies containing marijuana, crack cocaine, cocaine, oxycodone, THC wax, scales and drug paraphernalia .
When the deputy talked to the female passenger she said that she would take possession of the drugs if Ingram would bond her out according to the arrest report. Once the woman was handcuffed and separated from Ingram she told the deputy that she was afraid of Ingram and that he had physically abused her in the past. She said that Ingram told her to throw the bag out the window. She gave the deputy a sworn affidavit attesting to this, according to the arrest report.
Ingram was taken to the Lake County Jail where he was booked on four counts of possession of controlled substances, one count of possession of drug paraphernalia with bond set at $7,000. Ingram has a lengthy criminal record and was on felony probation for drug possession at the time of this arrest. A violation of probation charge was entered on that case and he is being held without bond.