A Georgia man caught driving a stolen vehicle was arrested on drug charges after cocaine was found in the center console.
Lady Lake police officers were notified Wednesday of a stolen car that had entered the city on U.S. Highway 27/441. A sergeant observed the vehicle and pulled it over at the intersection Highway 27/441 and Water Oak Boulevard. The driver was identified by his Georgia driver’s license as Corey Michael Payton, 43, of Douglas, Ga.
In preparation for towing the vehicle, police searched it and found a bottle in the center console with 130 pressed white pills. The pills were rectangular with four segmented sections and made to appear as if they were Xanax bars. The pills tested positive for cocaine and weighed approximately 33.2 grams. The sergeant noted that the cocaine pills were directly next two Payton’s legitimate prescription in the console, according to the police report.
After being read his Miranda warning, Payton said the vehicle was loaned to him by a woman named Sandy. He acknowledged the presence of the pills but said they weren’t his, the report said.
Based on Payton’s statement about the stolen vehicle, the sergeant determined there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with grand theft auto. However, he was charged with trafficking cocaine and a violation of conditional release supervision. Payton was being held in the Lake County Jail on $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on June 13.
