A Summerfield man awaiting trial for domestic battery was arrested on drug charges and is also accused of punching a woman who got into an argument with his girlfriend.
Sonny Louis Stehr, 29, of 14457 SE 107th Ave., was arrested Nov. 11 and charged with simple battery, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of drug equipment and tampering with evidence. He also violated pre-trial release conditions stemming from his arrest on a domestic battery charge last month and remains held in the Marion County Jail.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded to 14457 SE 107th Ave. for what was originally reported as a possible robbery. A sheriff’s helicopter was already in the air and observed a vehicle driving through a field away from the incident location, according to the MCSO report.
The helicopter directed a K-9 deputy to the vehicle’s location and a traffic stop was conducted in the 1200 block of SE 108th Terrace Road in Belleview. The deputy detained Stehr, who was the rear right-seat passenger in the vehicle, and Stehr’s girlfriend, who was in the rear left seat. The deputy could smell a very strong odor of fresh marijuana emitting from Stehr and observed numerous chunks of marijuana caked to his teeth, the report said.
The deputy also saw several small pieces of a substance that later tested positive for marijuana sitting on the right-rear seat floorboard where Stehr had been sitting. A black digital scale and a partially burnt marijuana cigarette were inches away from the marijuana, according to the report.
The victim, who was taken to the hospital for her injuries, told a deputy that she had been picked up in Fort McCoy and driven to the incident location. Once there, she and Stehr’s girlfriend got into an argument, and Stehr became upset because he believed the victim disrespected his girlfriend. The victim said Stehr punched her in the forehead and forced her out of the vehicle, the report said.
The deputy observed minor redness on the victim’s forehead. Her right knee was freshly scraped up and she had a cut on the outside of her right leg, according to the report.
Stehr denied striking the victim. He also denied ownership of the marijuana in the vehicle but said he had used marijuana earlier. Despite the apparent marijuana caked on his teeth, he denied ingesting marijuana, the report said.
Under the pre-trial conditions imposed after Stehr’s domestic battery arrest, he is prohibited from having contact with the victim in that case, who was the rear left seat passenger. Stehr is due to appear in Marion County Court on Dec. 17.