Marion County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Summerfield woman Thursday after receiving a call about an erratic driver who sat still at green lights.
A short time later, a deputy spotted a silver Hyundai matching the description of the vehicle that was called in. It was sitting stationary at a green light at S Hwy. 441 and SE 92nd Place, a sheriff’s office report states.
When the deputy made contact with the vehicle’s driver, 34-year-old Andrea Michelle Butler, she said she didn’t know how to drive a “stick shift” transmission. But she also repeatedly gave the deputy her phone number when he asked her name and was having trouble answering questions, the report says, adding that the deputy didn’t smell any odor of alcohol on her breath.
But Butler failed four field sobriety tests, including reciting the alphabet, and was taken into custody. A check of her driving record showed that her license had been suspended several times. And a form she signed for a payment plan – which she didn’t complete – indicated her license would be suspended if she didn’t comply.
During a search of Butler’s purse, a deputy found paperwork from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles showing that her license was suspended twice on Aug. 7 for failure to pay traffic fines. And a computer check showed it was her fifth offense for driving with a suspended license, as she was adjudicated guilty on Nov. 9, 2004; July 1, 2009; Dec. 20, 2012; and May 18, 2017, the report says.
The deputy also found several loose pills in Butler’s purse that were identified as Alprazolam and half of a Hydrocodone. There was a box of an over-the-counter sleep aid that contained a rolled up tissue with a clear crystal inside it that field tested positive for methamphetamine. And three different new legend prescription pills identified as forms of Hydrocodone were found inside the vehicle’s glove compartment in an unlabeled prescription bottle, along with a baggie containing smaller baggies, the report says.
Butler was transported to the Marion County Jail, where she provided a breath sample of 0.000 blood alcohol content. She originally agreed to provide a urine sample but wasn’t able to do so, even after drinking two boxes of juice, the report says.
Butler, who has been in the Marion County Jail six times since April 2009, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, two counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, two counts of possession of a harmful new legend drug without a prescription, driving while license is suspended (third or subsequent offense), driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and possession of drug equipment. She was held on $12,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 9 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.