A 19-year-old Leesburg man is in the Lake County Jail after guns and marijuana were found inside a vehicle he was riding in.
Marlo J. King, of 512 Great Winds Dr., was charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. King was the front-seat passenger in a white Nissan that failed to stop at a stop sign before turning from Beecher Street onto Waitman Avenue on Tuesday evening.
A Leesburg police officer conducted a traffic stop and saw the three occupants through the window making furtive movements. It appeared King was handing something to the backseat passenger. Once the vehicle came to a complete stop, the officer got out of the patrol car and ordered the occupants to show their hands. Another officer arrived as backup and both officers noticed the smell of burnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle, according to the police report.
King told the officer he had a medical marijuana card, but he couldn’t provide the card or card number. He said he had been previously smoking marijuana in the car. Both other occupants said they did not have medical marijuana card. Based on the furtive movements and the smell of marijuana, the officer conducted a search of the vehicle, the report said.
The backseat passenger fled on foot while the officer was trying to get his name. Inside the vehicle was a small clear bag containing about 7.1 grams of marijuana, two marijuana blunts and a partially smoked blunt, according to the report.
An officer also found a black 9mm handgun on the rear seat, next to where the suspect who fled had been sitting. The other officer then found an AR-15 style rifle on the front passenger seat floorboard that was concealed by a small blanket and black sweatshirt. The rifle was fully loaded with a 30-round magazine and a bullet in the chamber. The rifle also had a buffer tube that doesn’t allow for attachment of a traditional stock. The overall length of the rifle was 25 inches, including an 11-inch barrel, the report said.
King was placed under arrest. It was later learned King does have a medical marijuana card issued to him, but the marijuana found in his vehicle was not properly packaged or labeled for legal sale, according to the report.
King is being held on $2,000 bond and will appear in Lake County Court on Aug. 8.
