A Leesburg woman jailed in March for stealing from Walmart was arrested on drug charges Monday night after the car she was riding in was stopped for not having its headlights on.
Brooke Noelle Baisden, 33, of 4341 Magnolia Ave., was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of Alprazolam, possession with intent to sell Alprazolam, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was the front-seat passenger of a gray Cadillac that was pulled over by a Leesburg police officer at around 8:30 p.m. on South 14th Street, according to the police report.
A K9 unit arrived at the scene and conducted an open-air sniff, which detected the presence of drugs. Police searched the vehicle and found a pink purse in the front passenger seat, where Baisden had been sitting. Inside the purse was a small plastic bag of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, along with two plastic bags containing 21 Zanax (Alprazolam) pills and 22 orange pills later also identified as Alprazolam, the report said.
Also found in the purse was another clear plastic bag containing about 2.4 grams of crushed Alprazolam pills and a bottle of a dozen 2mg pills and five half-pills of Alprazolam that were prescribed to her. The purse also contained a silver digital scale with white residue, a package of small plastic bags, and a glass bowl used to crush the Alprazolam pills. Based on the evidence at the scene, officers determined Baisden was using the scale to weigh the pills and the plastic bags to distribute them, according to the report.
After being read her Miranda warning, Baisden admitted the Alprazolam was hers and said she had a prescription for the pills. She said she didn’t know anything about the meth or the digital scale, the report said.
This was Baisden’s second arrest of 2022. In March, she was jailed after she reportedly returned to the Walmart store in Leesburg where she had previously been seen on security video switching price tags on items, going through a self-checkout aisle and leaving the store without paying the correct price.
Baisden is being held in the Lake County Jail on $7,000 bond. She’s scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on Jan. 3, 2023.
