Two women were arrested on drug charges last week after being pulled over in a vehicle that was observed dropping off an overdose victim at a hospital two days earlier.
Ocala Police stopped a red 2007 Subaru hatchback in the area of the 1400 block of NW 16th Street. The Subaru was a vehicle of interest in a case from May 4, where two unidentified females dropped off a white female at the hospital. The woman was suffering from an apparent drug overdose and was in critical condition and not expected to survive. The females left the hospital in the victim’s Subaru, according to the police report.
Three women were in the vehicle when it was stopped. The woman in the rear passenger-side seat – Tara Marie Garcia, 29, of Citra – was removed for questioning and an officer observed a loaded syringe in the door pocket, in plain view, where Garcia was sitting. While being patted down, Garcia said she had a cigarette pack in her “boxers.” The pack was retrieved, and it contained a crystalized rock substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine. The pack also contained an off-white, rock-like substance that field tested positive for heroin. The substance in the syringe also field tested positive for heroin, according to the report.
The woman in the rear driver-side seat – Leah Racquel Kelly, 26, of Ocala – was removed for questioning, and an officer found a cigarette pack on the seat where she was sitting. Inside the pack was what appeared to be a small marijuana “roach” that field tested positive for marijuana, the report said.
Garcia was charged with possession of heroin, possession of paraphernalia and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was taken to the Marion County Jail, where she was released Thursday on $2,500 bond. She’ll appear in Marion County Court on June 11.
Kelly was charged with possession of marijuana and remains held on $250 bond. Her court date is set for June 13.