A Leesburg man with a gun and cash was arrested on the suspicion he was selling drugs.
A Eustis police officer was on patrol on South Bay Street early Thursday morning when he spotted a white car with an expired license plate. The officer stopped the car near the intersection of Bay Street and Dicie Avenue where he made contact with the driver, 26-year-old Skyler Salerno and a female passenger.
After checking Salerno’s driver’s license, the officer noted the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the car and asked Salerno if he could search the car. Salerno refused to allow the search.
While the officer was talking to Salerno, he was joined by a K-9 officer and his dog, Goro. Goro performed an open air sniff search of the exterior of the suspect car and had a positive alert on the car.
The officers had Salerno and the female passenger get out of the car and searched the vehicle. They found a backpack containing a 9mm Glock pistol with a loaded magazine, a large plastic bag with multiple smaller baggies filled with marijuana, THC wax which was individually packed in four wax paper containers and a plastic container which had 25 balls of THC wax balls. Next to the Glock, the officers found $773 dollars which consisted of more than 30Â $20 bills, one $10 bill, four $5 bills and three $1 bills. One small baggie containing marijuana was found in the backseat.
When Salerno was searched the officers found cocaine and prescription drugs in his pockets.
Salerno admitted that the drugs were his and the female was released.
Salerno was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession THC wax with intent to sell, possession of Diazepam (prescription drug) with intent to sell, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Salerno was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $18,000 bond.
In 2018 Salerno was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school with intent to sell. That charge was disposed of by a pretrial agreement.
