An Ocala man was charged with smuggling contraband into a detention facility when booking staff found heroin in his wallet while checking him into the Marion County Jail.
The drug was discovered as Raymond Roche, 54, of 3418 NE Fifth St., was being booked on charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license as a habitual traffic offender, a sheriff’s office report states.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies stopped Roche Sunday night along the 7500 block of SE 58th Avenue because his tag light was out. When asked for his driver’s license, Roche said he didn’t have one and provided an identification card.
A records check showed Roche to be a habitual traffic offender since 2014 and he was placed under arrest. Deputies found an elongated glass pipe in Roche’s pocket that he said was his and that he used to smoke crack. The pipe didn’t contain enough residue to conduct a field test, the report says.
Roche has a lengthy list of prior arrests on charges including shoplifting, obstructing law enforcement, tampering with evidence, burglary, grand theft, possession of cocaine and numerous incidents of driving with a suspended license.
Roche was released on $5,000 bond and is due in Marion County Court on Feb. 12.