An Ocala man is in the Marion County Jail after being charged with stealing a vehicle, and he and his female passenger face drug charges after their arrest last week.
David Shane Brown, 36, was charged March 10 with grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of drug equipment, and knowingly driving with a suspended license. Brittany Lee Sartin, 27, was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of a harmful new legend drug without a prescription, and possession of drug equipment.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy on patrol received information about a about a possible stolen vehicle – a 2017 Ford Fusion – and observed the car traveling west on NE 35th Street. The deputy initiated a traffic stop and detained Brown and Sartin, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The deputy conducted an inventory search of the vehicle and found a brown purse tat contained multiple used syringes, a black metal spoon, a round makeup container, a plastic straw, and a jewelry box containing three round blue pills that were identified through a drug identifier site as Risperidone, which is not a controlled substance. The deputy found a fourth pill that was identified as Clonazepam, which is a Schedule 4 narcotic, the report said.
Sartin told the deputy that the purse wasn’t hers and that she saw it in the back seat before she got into the vehicle. Asked if she had any drug issues, Sartin said she uses heroin, cocaine, and pills. Sartin had multiple needle tracks around her neck, where she said she used needles to inject drugs into her system earlier in the day, according to the report.
Brown told the deputy that Sartin had the purse with her when he picked her up, the report said.
Brown is being held on $7,000 bond, while Sartin was released Sunday on $3,500 bond. Both will appear in Marion County Court on April 14.