A Summerfield man and his Fruitland Park companion were arrested for drug possession when officers found crack cocaine throughout their car.
An officer initiated a traffic stop on the driver of a gray Chevrolet Suburban SUV, later identified as 72-year-old Jencle Roberts, near Tuskegee Avenue and Harlem Avenue around 11:22 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. The passenger-side headlamp was not working, leaving the vehicle with only one working headlamp.
Once the vehicle came to a stop, the deputy got out of his patrol vehicle to meet with Roberts and the backseat passenger, identified as 58-year-old Rudolph McCray. The officer explained the reason for the stop, obtained Roberts’ license and requested assistance from a K-9 unit. He then returned to his vehicle to finish a written warning for the headlamp violation, the report said.
The K-9 unit got to the scene and conducted a free-air sniff around the vehicle as the officer filled out the warning. Upon completion, he told the officer that his K-9 partner alerted to the odor of narcotics, the report said.
The officer proceeded to complete the written warning and asked Roberts to get out of his vehicle. He issued the warning before asking if there were any drugs, drug paraphernalia or weapons inside the vehicle. Roberts stated there was possibly some drug paraphernalia in the vehicle because it was not his. He also agreed to being searched, the report said.
While searching Roberts, the officer found two small pieces of crumpled up copper wire mesh in his right front pant pocket. That type of wire mesh is commonly used as a filter in crack pipes. He also located a small glass pipe with burnt copper wire mesh packed into one end with black electrical tape wrapped around it. This type of pipe is commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, the report said.
Roberts was detained in the back of a police vehicle due to these discoveries. As one officer dealt with him, others detained McCray on suspicion of drug possession. They advised that he had what looked like pieces of crack cocaine in his lap as he got out of the vehicle, the report said.
During a search of the vehicle, officers found a small piece of what appeared to be crack cocaine in plain view on the driver’s floorboard. They also found two more pieces of suspected crack cocaine on the seat where McCray was sitting along with two more crack pipes. One of these pipes was in the front passenger seat area while the other was between the rear seat cushions where McCray sat, the report said.
A small portion of the crack cocaine located where Roberts sat tested positive for the presence of cocaine and weighed about 0.1 grams. The portion near McCray also tested positive for such and weighed about 0.6 grams, the report said.
Roberts and McCray were placed under arrest and transported to the LPD for booking. Both were charged with possession of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia (possession or use). They were transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting their respective $3,500 bonds.