An Ocala man and woman were jailed Tuesday night after officers, detectives and the SWAT team from the Ocala Police Department, along with agents from the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team, raided a home believed to be used for reselling stolen items.
Ocala Police detectives had conducted surveillance on the residence at 1831 NW 2nd St. for about two weeks, believing it was being used to fence stolen retail items. Detectives were able to develop probable cause for a search warrant and arrested two people – 53-year-old Larry Donnell Jackson and the 63-year-old homeowner, Lula Mae Delancey, an Ocala Police report states.
Marion County law enforcement officials had been investigating several large retail thefts in the area over several months in which suspects were confirmed using Delancey’s home to resell stolen items, the report says, adding that drug activity also was observed at the property on several occasions.
Jackson was booked into the Marion County Jail on Tuesday night and charged with with dealing in stolen property, 22 counts of petit theft and four counts of grand retail theft. He is being held on $62,000 bond and is due in court on Dec. 23 at 9 a.m.
Delancey also was booked into the jail Tuesday night and charged with dealing in stolen property, owning a place for manufacturing of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was released early Wednesday afternoon on $8,000 bond and her next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
As a result of the search warrant, officers seized a large amount of methamphetamine, fresh baked crack cocaine cookies, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a large amount of cash, four firearms (two reported stolen in Marion County Sheriff’s Office cases in October 2018) and approximately $20,000 in stolen property, the report says.
The Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team is an initiative of the North Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. It is comprised of local, state and federal law enforcement from the Ocala Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security.
