A Fruitland Park woman was arrested on drug charges after a K-9 sniffed out narcotics ultimately found inside a syringe in her wallet.
An officer encountered a red Ford SUV traveling north on Dixie Avenue around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. He noticed the vehicle only had one working headlamp and initiated a traffic stop.
The officer identified the front seat passenger as 31-year-old Sadie Bianca Salisbury from previous law enforcement encounters. After explaining the reason for the stop to the male driver, he quietly muttered something along the line of “I forgot to turn my high beams on.” This made the officer suspect that he knew of the defective headlamp, the report said.
While speaking with the occupants, the officer asked if there was anything illegal in the vehicle. The driver denied this and refused consent for the officer to search his vehicle. The officer still retrieved his K-9 partner from his patrol vehicle to conduct a free-air sniff around the outside of the vehicle, the report said.
On the first pass around the vehicle, the K-9 showed a change of behavior near the right rear door. The K-9 focused on this area, showing a likelihood of narcotics in the vehicle. The K-9 was returned to the patrol vehicle, and the officer returned to the occupants to order them out, the report said.
As the driver got out of the vehicle, the officer noticed a prescription pill bottle resting on the driver’s door panel. This pill bottle was later found to contain Buprenorphine. A subsequent probable cause search revealed a small, cut piece of a plastic straw with a single melted end. The officer did not see any suspected narcotics residue inside the straw, but he knew it was commonly used to smoke illegal narcotics, the report said.
The officer returned to the driver, searched him and did not find anything. When the officer told Salisbury and another officer that he would be searching her, she became increasingly nervous. She asked multiple times if she could refuse the search, stating she was just a passenger that had done nothing wrong, the report said.
A few moments later, an officer found a folding wallet concealed in Salisbury’s bra. Inside the wallet was a syringe containing a clear liquid and an empty baggie with suspected narcotic residue. Two small plastic containers were also found, one of which contained a small piece of cotton. The officer knew these items to be commonly used with injectable narcotics, the report said.
Additionally, a field test of the clear liquid inside the syringe yielded a positive result for the presence of methamphetamine, the report said.
The officer spoke with Salisbury and advised her of her rights, which she understood and agreed to speak. She had already made a statement about taking the wallet from someone. The officer asked what the substance inside the syringe was, and she informed him it was methamphetamine, the report said.
Salisbury was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. She was transported to Lake County Jail with bond set at $3,500.