A Zellwood man accused of paying for a meal at Denny’s with counterfeit money had drugs in his pocket when he was arrested at a local motel.
Clinton Jerome Burton Jr., 39, was charged with using counterfeit cash, defrauding an innkeeper obtaining food, possession of cocaine, possession of heroin, and possession of Alprazolam.
A Leesburg police officer responded to Denny’s, 2480 Citrus Blvd., where an employee reported a man and woman paid their $25.53 bill using two counterfeit $20 bills and left on foot heading south on U.S. Hwy. 441. The employee said the couple were possibly in the neighboring Sleep Inn motel, according to the police report.
The employee showed the officer the fake bills, which displayed the word “props” under the No. 20 and the word “not” before the Treasurer of the United States marking. While on the scene, the officer saw the two suspects come out of the Sleep Inn, and the Denny’s employee confirmed they were the ones who passed the counterfeit money, the report said.
Once the couple saw the officer coming towards them, they tried to retreat to their hotel room, but they stopped when ordered to by the officer. Burton told he officer he and his wife ate at Denny’s and he was the one who paid the bill. He said he didn’t know the bills were counterfeit and that he received them by selling his Beats headphones earlier in the day, according to the report.
Burton was placed under arrest and searched. Inside his left pants pocket was an orange prescription pill bottle with no label that contained a clear baggie containing multiple green rectangle pills with the imprint “S/90/3” on one side, two small zip-lock bags containing a brown tar-like substance, a clear bag containing a white powdery substance, and a small clear zip-lock bag containing a white powdery substance, the report said.
The officer then found another counterfeit $20 bill with the words “copy money” on it inside Burton’s pants pocket. Asked what the substances in the pill bottle were, Burton said he’s a “smoker” and the pills help with his anxiety. Burton’s wife was released and he was taken to the Leesburg Police Department for booking, according to the report.
The substances in Burton’s pocket tested positive for cocaine in heroin, while the pills were identified through an internet search as Alprazolam, a medication prescribed for anxiety, the report said.
Burton was taken to the Lake County Jail, where he’s being held on $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on Oct. 3.
