A Summerfield man was arrested at a Villages minimart early Monday morning after a loud argument with two lady friends in his 2009 Ford Crown Victoria drew the attention of Marion County sheriff’s deputies.
Deputies were called to the Circle K at Mulberry Grove Plaza and when they arrived, they made contact with 46-year-old James Edward Jones and his two companions. All three said they were just having a verbal disagreement but deputies reported smelling a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle, a sheriff’s office report states.
While a deputy searched the vehicle, Jones started walking toward the Circle K, telling a deputy he needed to use the restroom. The deputy told him he could use the restroom after the vehicle search was complete and Jones became agitated, the report says.
After saying a second time that he was going to use the restroom, the deputy searched Jones and felt an object in his right pocket. He asked Jones for permission to empty out his pockets to make sure the object was neither illegal nor dangerous. Jones then admitted that the object contained marijuana, the report says.
The deputy detained Jones in handcuffs and removed a white unlabeled pill bottle from his right pocket that contained a green leafy substance that field-tested positive for marijuana and a white rock-like substance that tested positive for cocaine, the report says.
After being read his rights, Jones told the deputy he was “unaware” that the pill bottle, the marijuana and the cocaine were in his pocket. But he then admitted the pill bottle was his and said “he planned on smoking the cocaine later in the night,” the report says.
Jones, who lives at 13067 S.E. 10th Terr. in Summerfield, was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams and possession of drug equipment. He was being held on $700 bond and is due in court Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges, jail records show.