A Leesburg woman was arrested after she emptied her pockets full of drug-related items during a traffic stop in Tavares.
Police conducted the stop on a silver Mercedes with extremely dark tinted windows near Pineway and Rose avenues at about 7:14 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Tavares Police Department. The vehicle also made an unlawful left turn.
Officers then approached the male driver and the passenger, identified as 30-year-old Ashley Erin Clark. Due to the officers knowing the driver to commonly have narcotics in his vehicle and on his passengers during traffic stops, a K9 unit was requested at the scene, the report said.
One of the officers asked if there was anything in the vehicle and for consent to search inside including bags and compartments. The driver agreed, but Clark refused. She wanted to leave the traffic stop and use the restroom instead, which the officers declined permission to do, according to the report.
At that point, a K9 unit from the Astatula Police Department arrived on scene. Both occupants were removed from the vehicle and asked to step in front of a patrol car. As one of the officers stood with Clark, she consensually began to empty the small cross body style purse she had attached to her. The items included multiple pieces of tin foil, one of which had burnt residue from methamphetamine, the report said.
Clark also pulled out an empty pin with the center removed and burnt residue. She openly admitted to using this to smoke narcotics. In addition, she removed multiple bags from the hip area of her pants with powdery residue throughout. Each bag had different small amounts of unknown powdery residue. Clark said she was unsure what the powder was but was going through it to see what she could use and throw away the remainder, the report said.
As Clark continued to pull items from her purse, the K9 unit walked around the vehicle and completed a free-air sniff resulting in a positive alert. A search was completed but nothing else was found, the report said.
While the driver was issued two citations, Clark was arrested and charged with possession of paraphernalia. She was transported to the Lake County Jail and released after posting $1,000 bond.
