A Leesburg man was arrested on drug charges after police found methamphetamine hidden in a Doritos bag during a traffic stop.
Elvin Torres, 52, was pulled over around 2:30 a.m. Thursday by an officer who saw him make an abrupt U-turn on Dixie Avenue without using a traffic signal. The officer ran a license plate check that showed the vehicle’s registered owner is on probation with a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
The officer initiated the traffic stop in the 1800 block of West Main Street and explained the reason to Torres, who said he was sorry and shouldn’t have made the improper U-turn. A K9 unit arrived at the scene and conducted a free-air sniff of the vehicle’s exterior. The dog gave a positive alert on the front passenger door, the report said.
Torres gave permission to search the vehicle and the officer found three small plastic baggies containing a crystal rock-like substance in the front passenger side door compartment, according to the report.
This discovery prompted a search of Torres, as well. A glass pipe commonly used to smoke narcotics was found in his left pocket. Burnt tar-like residue was inside the tube. Also found was a large crystal-like substance within a small Doritos chip bag. A smaller and broken up crystal-like substance was found in a McDonalds food wrapper inside his tri-fold wallet, the report said.
The crystal-like substances tested positive for methamphetamine and had a total bagged weight of about 25.5 grams. Torres admitted the methamphetamine belonged to him and that he had purchased it for $85 on Monday, according to the report.
The New York native was charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. He was taken to the Lake County Jail after completing the booking process with bond set at $3,000.
