A trio in a stolen Jeep were arrested Tuesday by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies.
Deputies conducted a traffic stop at 9:02 a.m. on Buena Vista Boulevard in The Villages when a deputy noticed the driver and passengers were not wearing their seatbelts. The traffic stop revealed the vehicle had been reported stolen to the Ocala Police Department
The driver, identified as 26-year-old Paul Dean May of Michigan, said he borrowed the car and was unaware that it was stolen. May was arrested on charges of vehicle theft and violation of probation.
During the course of the investigation, Sumter County K-9 Mace alerted on the vehicle, indicating the presence of drugs.
In the subsequent search, two purses were found, and the purses were identified as belonging to 32-year-old Karen Young of Groveland and 32-year-old Kristen Rogers of Summerfield. The purse belonging to Young contained a plastic bag that contained a thin clear glass pipe with residue, a broken clear glass pipe with residue and a glass vial with a cork stopper. The vial contained less than 1 gram of a crystalline substance. The purse belonging to Rogers revealed an insulin-type syringe with what appeared to be blood on the needle and in the tip of the syringe. Deputies used a presumptive methamphetamine test kit to analyze the substance on the items and the substance tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
Young was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rogers was arrested on a charge of drug paraphernalia.
All three were booked at the Sumter County Detention Center.