An Ocala woman caught with drugs and paraphernalia during a traffic stop had another charge added when a bag of heroin was found in a body cavity while she was being booked into the Marion County Jail.
Denise Jeanine Bell, 34, of 1720 NW 38th Ave., was charged with two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and single counts of possession of drug equipment and smuggling a controlled substance into a detention facility.
Bell was a passenger in a vehicle stopped Tuesday at the Circle K store at 7025 NE Jacksonville Road for not having a Florida tag attached to it. All of the occupants were detained and the vehicle was searched prior to it being towed, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office report.
During the search, a deputy found a large pink bag on the passenger side floorboard where Bell had been sitting. Inside the bag was a black box containing two syringes and a small baggie containing a white crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
The large pink bag also had a spoon, a gold torch lighter and a smaller, and clear makeup bag containing several credit cards belonging to Bell, a silver digital scale and two empty syringes. Bell said the large pink bag didn’t belong to her but the small makeup bag did. She couldn’t say how her cell phone ended up in the large bag, claiming it could have fallen into it, according to the report.
After being taken to the jail, Bell was placed into the body scan machine and a foreign object was found to be lodged in her vaginal canal. She then admitted to placing a small baggie of heroin into her vagina. The substance later tested positive for heroin, the report said.
Bell was released Thursday on $7,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on March 23.