A 59-year-old Leesburg woman was arrested after a deputy caught a glimpse of a drug pipe while she was looking in her purse for her vehicle registration during a traffic stop.
Pamela Speagle Adams, of 11100 Sycamore Lane Lot 14, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug equipment, and presenting a false document as evidence. Adams was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over Tuesday afternoon for failing to come to a complete stop at the sign at the end of South Haines Creek Road.
The vehicle had a North Carolina license plate. While one Lake County sheriff’s deputy spoke with the driver and ran the plate, another deputy spoke with Adams, who asked if she could get the car registration from the back of the van. The deputy watched Adams retrieve her black purse that was sitting on a mattress near the rear of the vehicle. Adams then placed the black purse on the front passenger seat, where she had been sitting, according to the sheriff’s office report.
While Adams was searching for the registration, she unzipped a wallet-like bag and quickly rezipped it. As she did, the deputy observed a smoking device in the bag. The deputy then asked Adams for her license, which she provided, the report said.
A database search showed the tag on the van was assigned to another vehicle. Deputies had both the driver and Adams to get out of the vehicle and they were put in handcuffs while they searched her bag. While there was no drug paraphernalia inside the purse, a deputy found a small clear plastic baggie containing a green leafy substance. Adams then said she had a smoking device concealed in her bra, under her shirt. The deputy uncuffed her so she could retrieve the paraphernalia and then placed her back in the handcuffs, according to the report.
The drug paraphernalia was a clear pipe with burnt remnants of a white substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. A search of the vehicle turned up a clear plastic bag containing a black glass pipe and rolling papers under the front passenger seat, where Adams had been sitting. The green leafy substance tested positive for marijuana, the report said.
Asked if she had any other illegal items concealed, Adams told the deputy she had one more pipe in her waistband. That device also had burnt remnants of a white substance, according to the report.
Adams was placed under arrest and taken to the Lake County Jail, where she’s being held on $6,000 bond. She will appear in Lake County Court on May 31.
