A Belleview woman was arrested on multiple drug charges during a traffic stop in Summerfield early Wednesday morning.
Candace Irene Channels, 39, of 4458 SE 110th St., was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of a prescription drug without a prescription and possession of drug equipment. Another charge of smuggling contraband into a detention facility was added when methamphetamine was found in her shorts as she was being checked into the Marion County Jail.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy was on routine patrol at around 1 a.m. when he observed Channels behind the wheel of a blue car stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of SE 155th Street and U.S. Hwy. 441. The vehicle remained stationary for more than a minute when the officer initiated a traffic stop to check on the driver’s welfare and ensure she was OK to drive, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The deputy asked Channels if she was alright and she responded she had dropped her cigarettes. The deputy observed her eyes were bloodshot and her pupils were dilated and reacted slowly to his flashlight. Channels then changed her story and said she was pulling out of the neighborhood on the west side of U.S. Hwy. 441 when she saw a flowerpot on the side of the road and wanted to pick it up, the report said.
Due to Channels’ inconsistent statements and the fact she said she was homeless and the vehicle didn’t belong to her, the deputy continued the investigation. A K-9 deputy responded to the scene and his partner Zeus detected the odor of narcotics in the area of the driver’s door. Channels said she wasn’t aware of any illegal narcotics in the vehicle but admitted she has a history of using opiates. She maintained she had nothing Illegal on her person or in the vehicle, according to the report.
Channels stepped out of the vehicle holding her phone and her car keys, which had a small zipper pouch attached. The deputy looked inside the zipper pouch and found a plastic bag containing a crystal-like substance and a short piece of a white straw with white residue inside, the report said.
The deputy also found a credit card in the pouch belonging to a third party. Channels said she found the card at a car wash and was going to try to return the card to the owner. The crystal-like substance tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the report.
A black pouch found in the glove box contained numerous unused plastic bags, a digital scale with white residue and a glass pipe with white residue. Channels spontaneously said she uses the scale to weigh pennies to see if they are fake. The residue in the glass pipe tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
A black wallet was found on the passenger seat that contained Channels’ Social Security card, a small piece of straw and a plastic container with three round white tablets and two round yellow tablets. Channels did not have any labeled prescription bottles in the vehicle. The pills were identified as Tizanidine, a muscle relaxer, and Norethindrone, a contraceptive. Both medications are available by prescription only, according to the report.
Before being taken to jail, Channels was given several opportunities to say whether she had anything else on her person and she insisted she didn’t. Once at the jail, she was found to have a plastic bag containing a crystal-like substance in her shorts that tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
Channels was released Wednesday night on $5,500 bond. A court date has not been set.
