Marion County sheriff’s deputies arrested three people early Monday morning after stopping a vehicle for having an expired registration sticker.
Deputies made contact with 30-year-old Leigh-Ann Brooke Griffis after she stopped the white Mitsubishi SUV in the parking lot of the Queens Garden Resort in Ocala. A short time later, a sheriff’s K-9 alerted on the vehicle, indicating the presence of narcotics.
Deputies then removed Griffis and the vehicle’s other two occupants – 28-year-old Fenton J. Hadley Jr. in the front passenger seat and 33-year-old Shelley R. Lentz in the rear, driver’s side seat – so they could do a thorough search, a sheriff’s office report says.
During that search, deputies located a small plastic baggie between the driver’s door and seat that contained a white, crystal substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, as well as a multicolor tin in the center console that contained small plastic baggies with a white residue, used cotton swabs, a burnt spoon and numerous syringes, one containing a brownish liquid, the report says.
Griffis told deputies that “she used to use heroin and methamphetamine, but she had been clean for approximately one month.” She also admitted that multiple items located in the center console belonged to her, with the exception of the tin and its contents. And she denied any knowledge of the plastic baggie found near her seat, the report says.
Deputies found several items of drug paraphernalia, including a glass pipe with burnt residue on the inside that tested positive for methamphetamine. The pipe was located on the floorboard where Hadley had been sitting but he denied knowing anything about it, the report says.
Deputies also found a large “kit” of multiple used syringes, cotton swabs, small plastic baggies and aluminum foil folds that were rolled up in paper towels and plastic wraps.
“All of the items appear to have used to inject illicit, illegal narcotics,” the report says.
The “kit” was “stuffed between the seats,” immediately to the right of where Lentz had been sitting. A dark blue purse that contained multiple credit cards and personal items belonging to Lentz also held more used cotton swabs and syringe caps, the report says.
Lentz claimed that the only belongings she had inside the vehicle were her phone and wallet. And she denied any knowledge of the drug paraphernalia in the vehicle, the report says, adding that all three were taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail.
Griffis, who lives at 13125 NE Hwy. 314 in Silver Springs, was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription (methamphetamine) and possession of drug equipment. She was being held on $1,500 bond and is due in court Feb. 26 to answer to the charges.
Hadley, who lives at 2810 NW 3rd Terr. in Ocala and has been in the jail four times since August 2011, was charged with possession of drug equipment and outstanding warrants for tampering with an electronic monitoring device, criminal mischief and violating a conditional pre-trial release on a previous domestic violence charge. He was being held on $1,000 bond on the drug equipment charge and no bond on the other charges.
Lentz, of 4305 SE 13th St. in Ocala, faces multiple drug charges regarding possession and sale of heroin and possession of drug equipment. She is being held on $19,500 bond.