A bicyclist riding without a headlight was arrested after he was found to have methamphetamine tucked in his pocket.
While on patrol shortly after midnight Thursday, a Fruitland Park police officer was driving north on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 near its intersection with Shadow Hill Road when the officer spotted a man riding a black cruiser-style bicycle northbound on the sidewalk. The bicycle did not have a headlight, prompting the officer to initiate a traffic stop.
Jonathan Roy Callahan, 46, provided identification which indicated he lives at 36851 Wilmington Road in Fruitland Park. Callahan was given a verbal warning about the lack of proper lighting equipment for his bicycle.
The officer asked Callahan, who was arrested last year in a shoplifting spree at Sam’s Club in Lady Lake, if he would consent to a search of his person and bicycle. He agreed and the officer found in Callahan’s pocket a capped hypodermic needle and a clear plastic baggy containing a white crystalline substance. As the officer was examining the objects Callahan spontaneously volunteered that a woman had put the objects in his pocket while he was with her earlier that evening. The Iowa native claimed he had been hugging the woman when she slipped the needle and substance into his pocket. He refused to name the woman.
The officer placed Callahan in his squad car and field tested the white crystalline substance. The field test was positive for methamphetamine.
Callahan was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine and booked into the Lake County Jail on $2,000 bond.
Callahan has been in and out of the Lake County jail 11 times since 2013 for several different offenses.