A Leesburg man with drugs was arrested while riding a bicycle in Fruitland Park.
A Fruitland Park police officer was on patrol when he saw a man, later identified as 37-year-old Jason Jermaine Simpson, riding a bicycle early Thursday morning northbound on U.S. Hwy. 27. The bike did not have an operable rear light as required by Florida law.
The officer turned on his emergency lights and the cyclist continued to ride for another 50 yards before stopping near the intersection with Spring Lake Road.
Simpson told the officer that he had just left a friend’s house. He said that he had known the friend for a year but he only knew him as “Josh,” but did not know his last name. Simpson told the officer that he was on his way to another friend’s house who lived on Genius Street.
He denied having anything illegal when asked by the officer but admitted he had a “pen” which the officer recognized to be a vaporizer pen which sometimes contains THC concentrate.
Simpson started to take the vape pen out of his left front pocket and exposed a glass pipe which the officer recognized as a meth pipe. Simpson started to walk away from the officer, who grabbed his arm. He resisted and was taken to the ground and handcuffed.
A search revealed that Simpson had Oxycodone and drug paraphernalia in his pockets.
Simpson was taken to the Lake County Jail where bond was set at $4,000 for the two possession charges and the charge of resisting arrest. Simpson has had multiple drug arrests in Lake County.
In 2021, Simpson was arrested with drugs on a bicycle.
