A Fruitland Park man was arrested on drug charges when officers found a “litany” of paraphernalia and narcotics in his vehicle.
An officer headed north on County Road 468 checked the tag of the vehicle in front of him around 12:15 a.m. Monday, Jan. 12, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. The vehicle abruptly turned onto South Avenue, but the officer learned its registered owner, 43-year-old Markus Antwon Roshell, had a suspended license for an unpaid traffic fine.
The officer suspected Roshell turned to avoid being stopped, so he made a U-turn to see if the vehicle would come back out. He then passed the vehicle going northbound. The officer turned around again, but the vehicle turned onto Paso Alley and into a random driveway as he turned on emergency lights for a traffic stop, the report said.
The officer still approached him, seeing a plastic baggie in a small pocket of the dashboard to the left of the steering wheel. He suspected it contained narcotics and asked Roshell to go stand near the front of the patrol vehicle. He was reluctant and stayed near the officer as he spoke to the passenger, the report said.
Roshell was ordered several times to stand near the patrol vehicle yet continued to refuse. At that point, the officer told him to put his hands behind his back. He tried to walk away instead and pulled away when the officer grabbed his left arm, the report said.
The officer moved him against the back of his own vehicle to detain him, but he actively resisted. So, the officer delivered a single “distraction strike” to the outside of Roshell’s left left with his left knee. He was then handcuffed against the hood of the patrol vehicle, the report said.
Once more officers arrived, they observed another small plastic baggie with white powder on the ground beside the front-left tire of the patrol vehicle. They also retrieved the bag seen on the dash, suspecting it contained cocaine or fentanyl. With probable cause, they searched the rest of the vehicle to find a litany of drug paraphernalia such as glass pipes with Brillo pads, cut plastic straws and foil with fentanyl residue, the report said.
In the backseat was a blue backpack with a large smoking device, commonly known as a “bong,” in the shape of a skull. It had a piece of glass pipe with Brillo pad, typically used to smoke crack cocaine. A second smaller glass pipe and a piece of foil with three atropine pills were also in the bag, the report said.
A subsequent review of the patrol vehicle’s dash cam revealed Roshell had reached into his pants with his right hand while struggling with the officer. He pulled out an object that he threw on the ground where they found the baggie of narcotics. Roshell later claimed the bag in the car was his, but the bag on the ground was not, the report said.
Roshell was arrested on charges of possession of fentanyl, possession of atropine, tampering with evidence, resist officer without violence, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with license suspended (with knowledge). He was transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting $10,500 bond.
He was also arrested in March 2021 for drugs found in his vehicle when it ran out of gas in a roundabout in The Villages.