A Leesburg man and woman were arrested on drug charges after their vehicle was pulled over for having its windows tinted too dark.
Deshawn F. Payton, 32, of 901 Talladega St., was charged with possession of MDMA, possession of heroin and possession of marijuana. Kortney Marie Dean, 23, of 1810 W. Main St. Apt. 2, was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Shortly after midnight Monday, Dean was driving a grey Ford that turned west from Beecher Street onto Alabama Avenue. A Lake County sheriff’s deputy saw the driver-side windows were illegally tinted and decided to conduct a traffic stop, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The deputy spoke with Dean and found out her license was suspended. Both she and Payton were extremely nervous. Due to their nervousness and the fact they were in a known drug area, the deputy requested a K-9 unit to come perform a free-air sniff, the report said.
During the search, deputies found a green Crown Royal bag under Dean’s seat. Inside the bag was a white container that contained a white rock-like substance and a cut plastic straw with white residue. Both items are typically used in the consumption of illegal narcotics. The white rock-line substance tested positive for cocaine, according to the report.
Deputies found a blue plastic container under Payton’s seat. Inside the container were three plastic baggies of a green substance that later tested positive for marijuana, along with a half-smoked marijuana roach. Also in the container was a plastic baggie containing a rock-like substance that tested positive for MDMA, according to the report.
Deputies searched Payton and found in his front pants pocket a pack of cigarettes containing a baggie filled with a white powder field tested positive for heroin. Later at the Lake County Jail, Payton spontaneously said, “I do smoke molly but if I knew that was heroin I would have ran,” the report said.
Both Payton and Dean were taken to the Lake County Jail. Dean is being held on $3,000 bond, while Payton was released May 14 on $5,000 bond. Both will appear in Lake County Court on June 14.
