A 45-year-old Belleview man and 32-year-old Ocala woman were arrested after a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy found methamphetamine and fentanyl during a traffic stop.
On Tuesday, the MCSO deputy observed a silver Ford Taurus in the parking lot of the Dollar General located at 9980 E Highway 25 in Belleview. A check of the vehicle’s license plate revealed that it had been reported stolen out of the Belleview Police Department.
The deputy approached the vehicle and made contact with its two occupants. The driver was identified as Amanda Rae Paschen and the passenger was identified as Jeffrey Paul Mehren.
Mehren told the deputy that he had purchased the vehicle earlier in the day and that the seller had left the license plate on the vehicle. According to the MCSO report, he was unable to produce any documentation to support this claim.
Paschen and Mehren both exited the vehicle and the deputy conducted a search of the vehicle’s interior. The deputy observed a black strap protruding from underneath the dashboard on the passenger’s side where Mehren had been sitting. The strap belonged to a black zipper bag.
Inside the bag, the deputy found multiple smaller plastic bags, a digital scale covered in a white residue, and a large amount of a white-crystal-like substance. The substance weighed 32 grams and field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
Mehren told the deputy that he had cleaned the dashboard with Armor All wipes. After the deputy read Mehren his Miranda warning, he refused to discuss the incident any further.
In the MCSO report, the deputy observed that Mehren admitted to purchasing the vehicle, and he should have seen the black zipper bag while either sitting in the vehicle or cleaning the dashboard.
During the vehicle search, a black backpack was also located in the back seat. It contained a prescription bottle with Paschen’s name on it and a box of tampons. Inside the box, multiple syringes were observed that contained a dark liquid substance that field-tested positive for fentanyl. Paschen admitted that the backpack belonged to her.
Mehren was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $51,000 bond. He is facing a felony charge for trafficking of methamphetamine (14 grams or over) along with a misdemeanor charge for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Paschen was also arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where she is currently being held on $4,000 bond. She is facing a felony charge for possession of a controlled substance along with several misdemeanor charges for driving with a suspended license and possession of drug paraphernalia.
A court date has not been scheduled yet for Mehren or Paschen, according to jail records.