A Lake Worth man and a Fruitland Park woman were arrested on drug charges following their suspicious behavior in a 7-Eleven parking lot.
An officer observed a black Hyundai Santa Cruz parked in front of a 7-Eleven, located at 2058 U.S. Hwy. 27/441, during an unrelated traffic stop at around 6:46 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. A man and a woman, later identified as 32-year-old Brandon Scott Fredericks and 30-year-old Lexie Capri Ibarrondo, were standing near the vehicle, and it appeared as if they were going out of their way not to acknowledge the officer’s presence.
Upon finishing the original traffic stop, the officer checked the vehicle’s license plate which showed that it did not have any vehicle information and was registered to “Hyundai of Central Florida.” Further examination revealed a vanity license plate bracket around the plate, the report said.
The vehicle was seen at 7-Eleven for over an hour, during which the occupants moved it from a parking space in front of the store to one on the side of the business. At about 8:10 p.m., the vehicle left and drove to the southbound entrance of U.S. Highway 27/441, the report said.
Another officer watched the vehicle fail to initially stop at the clearly marked “stop bar” prior to turning onto the highway. The officer who first spotted the vehicle made a traffic stop and met with its three occupants, the report said.
The driver stated the vehicle was a loaner due to her own being worked on. Ibarrondo was identified as the front seat passenger, and Fredericks as the rear seat passenger. While speaking with the group, one of the officers observed an opened package of “Suboxone,” used to treat opioid dependence, positioned on the seat beside Fredericks, the report said.
A K-9 was subsequently deployed around the vehicle to conduct a free-air sniff, which showed a positive alert to the odor of narcotics coming from inside. All three occupants were asked to get out of the vehicle. As Fredericks obeyed, he was asked for consent to search his person, which he granted, the report said.
The officer then found a white rock-like substance in Frederick’s left-front jacket pocket that was suspected to be crack-cocaine. He was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of a patrol vehicle as a result, the report said.
One of the officers notified the other that he found illegal items near where Ibarrondo was seated, so she was handcuffed, as well. One of the discoveries was a black zippered pouch labeled “May contain makeup, may contain snacks” in the front-right seat. This was directly where Ibarrondo’s feet would be as she sat in the vehicle, the report said.
Inside the pouch were several syringes and a blue pill container. This was found to contain a plastic baggie holding a white powdered substance, believed to be either heroin or fentanyl, the report said.
An officer approached Ibarrondo and advised her of her rights, which she understood and agreed and agreed to talk. She stated she was not in possession of anything illegal. She used fentanyl in the past but had not since Tuesday when she found out that she was pregnant, the report said.
Ibarrondo also admitted to using needles in the past. When questioned about the zippered pouch, she said it was originally in the back seat with her purse, but she asked Fredericks to hand it to her when they started driving away from 7-Eleven, the report said.
The officer next spoke with Fredericks who stated he had no idea the substance found in his jacket was in his pocket. He advised that he was a recovering drug user, and he last used crack-cocaine about two years ago. He believed the substance could have been left in the jacket from the last time he used the narcotic, the report said.
The substances were tested and yielded positive results for fentanyl and crack-cocaine. The former weighed 0.7 grams and the latter 1.0 gram, the report said.
Fredericks was charged with possession of cocaine and transported to Lake County Jail. Bond was set at $2,500.
Ibarrondo was charged with possession of fentanyl and drug paraphernalia. She was transported to jail with bond set at $7,000.