A Fruitland Park woman and her Umatilla cohort were arrested on drug charges after being stopped with meth and fentanyl.
An officer observed a white passenger vehicle occupied by three women, including 40-year-old Amber Nichole Morales and 38-year-old Shelley Anne Vanzant, traveling east on Miller Street around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department.
He watched the vehicle turn onto U.S. Hwy. 27/441, noticing its tag lights were too dim to read the license plate. He then stopped the vehicle near Grizzard Street. As he approached the window, he saw Morales reaching inside a lunch box, the report said.
The driver denied consent for law enforcement to search the vehicle, so a K-9 was brought to the scene. A positive alert to the odor of narcotics meant the vehicle would be searched regardless, and all three women were asked to exit, the report said.
The search began with the center console, where the officer found a cut straw with residue and a folded piece of burnt foil. A black and pink purse in Morales’s backseat contained a burnt straw and another folded piece of burnt foil. The officer then looked inside her lunchbox, the report said.
Inside was a cut straw; a silver container with multiple pieces of cut foil and pieces of plastic; and a blue container with multiple pieces of foil, a cigarette pack, and a taped piece of paper balled around 2 grams of methamphetamine. The cigarette pack contained a burnt glass pipe, the report said.
Additionally, another officer found two cut straws on the front passenger seat and floorboard. A smaller silver container had two small baggies of fentanyl, weighing 0.1 and 1.0 grams. Morales claimed ownership of the lunchbox, the report said.
Officers also searched the three occupants and asked if they had anything on them. Vanzant stated she had a pipe in her pants, which they found along with folded foil, two clear containers and a white silicone container. One of the clear containers had 0.2 grams of methamphetamine while the other had a crystalline residue, the report said.
The silicone container had blue powder that spilled on her pants when it was removed from them. After collecting it, the substance tested positive for fentanyl and weighed 0.2 grams, the report said.
Morales was arrested on charges of possession of fentanyl, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. She was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $6,000 bond.
She was also arrested in Aug. 2025 for trespassing at 7-Eleven, in March 2025 for trespassing, in Jan. 2025 for narcotics, in Feb. 2024 for heroin pills, and in Nov. 2023 for pills in her backpack.
Vanzant was arrested on charge of tampering with evidence, as well as possession of fentanyl, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. She was released from jail after posting $8,500 bond.