A Summerfield man found himself behind bars Tuesday afternoon after a Marion County sheriff’s K-9 alerted on the minivan he was riding in.
A sheriff’s deputy stopped a red 2006 Dodge Caravan in the 14600 block of S. U.S. Hwy. 441 and made contact with the driver and two passengers, one of whom was 44-year-old Derrick Stanley Januszyk. Deputies searched the minivan and located a small black book bag on the floor where Januszyk had been sitting. It contained a small baggie with a crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine, a sheriff’s office report states.
After being read his rights, Januszyk claimed the book bag and its contents didn’t belong to him. He said he didn’t know the bag was in the vehicle but then said he had moved it when he got into the minivan, the report says, adding that the bag was out of reach of the others inside the vehicle.
Januszyk was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with possession of methamphetamine. He was released later Tuesday on $2,000 bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
Januszyk also was arrested in October 2018 after handing a pair of new shoes to a woman who then fled from the Bealls store on Wedgewood Lane and was caught on the run at the nearby Fresh Market. Januszyk was arrested on charges of petit theft and resisting a merchant in the recovery of property in that case.
