A Leesburg man was arrested on drug charges after his nervous behavior tipped off an officer to meth and needles in his vehicle.
An officer pulled over 35-year-old Michael Brandon Jenkins at Walmart, located at 2501 Citrus Blvd, Leesburg, around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. His red vehicle had been seen speeding by 6 mph in Fruitland Park and stopped it for that reason.
While talking to the officer, Jenkins began profusely sweating and shaking. He denied there being any drug paraphernalia in the vehicle but declined consent for a search. At that point, the officer saw the front passenger-side door was partially caved into the vehicle, the report said.
The officer walked over to the door and asked Jenkins when he had gotten into a crash. As he said this, he saw a small piece of tin foil in the front passenger-side floorboard. He knew this was a sign of drug use, and he already knew Jenkins used methamphetamine, so he asked Jenkins to step out of the vehicle, the report said.
Jenkins was reaching to unbuckle his seatbelt when the officer opened the driver’s side door and saw a small scale with a white residue on it. There was also part of a baggie with white residue in it. The officer then asked if anything else was in the vehicle, to which Jenkins admitted there were needles inside a Beats headphone case on the floorboard, the report said.
The officer proceeded to search the vehicle and found a baggie with six unmarked white pills. He also recovered the Beats case and a black backpack containing white residue, a used needle and burnt tinfoil, the report said.
Jenkins was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. He was booked at the Lake County Jail with bond set at $7,000.
He was also arrested in Jan. 2025 for meth kept in his lockbox in the 7-Eleven parking lot and Jan. 2023 for meth found during another traffic stop.