A North Carolina woman was arrested in Eustis on Monday after the bulge in her shorts she said was a feminine pad turned out to be a drug pipe.
Shannon Louise Rodriguez, 44, of Ivanhoe, N.C., was charged with possession of fentanyl, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was a passenger in a vehicle that Eustis police observed outside a known drug house.
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., an officer saw a 2022 grey Mitsubishi parked at 309 E. Woodward Ave., which is known for the use and sale of narcotics. The vehicle left the residence and drove westbound on East Woodward Avenue towards Grove Street. The officer recognized the driver from previous interaction, according to the police report.
When the vehicle failed to come to a complete stop at the intersection of Woodward and Grove, the officer initiated a traffic stop. The driver said he was just driving his friend to a mechanic because her car needed work done to it. The officer noted the vehicle was a rental car and didn’t appear to have any problems with it, the report said.
A K9 unit responded and conducted a free air sniff that returned a positive result. The officer asked the occupants to get out of the vehicle and as Rodriguez got out of the passenger seat, the officer noticed a bulge in her shorts. When asked about it, Rodriguez said it was a female pad. The officer told her he knew how feminine products work and that wasn’t a pad, but she insisted it was a pad, according to the report.
When the officer told Rodriguez he was going to summon a female officer to search her, she admitted to having a pipe in her shorts. She removed the pipe and the officer placed it on the hood of his patrol car while officers searched the inside of the vehicle. Inside the vehicle was a purse that had several cards with Rodriguez’s name on them, along with a needle with a liquid substance and a clear plastic bag with a waxy substance, the report said.
The liquid inside the needle tested positive for methamphetamine and the waxy substance tested positive for fentanyl. Officers also found a small clear box containing a crystal substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the report.
Rodriguez was placed under arrest and taken to the Lake County Jail, where she posted $5,000 bond and was released. She’ll appear in Lake County Court on Jan. 17.
