A Summerfield man found himself behind bars Monday night after a large amount of marijuana was found in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
The deputy stopped the four-door Mitsubishi around 9:49 p.m. at the intersection of Marion Oaks Drive and Marion Oaks Boulevard after the vehicle failed to come to a complete stop while leaving a nearby Dollar General store. The deputy then spoke with the driver, 28-year-old Albert Oscar Hargrove, and his passenger and reported smelling a strong odor of burnt marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Hargrove the told deputy that he didn’t have a marijuana card but admitted to smoking the drug in his vehicle, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy removed Hargrove and his passenger from the car and placed them in the back of his patrol vehicle. After being read his rights, Hargrove told the deputy that if there was any marijuana in the vehicle, it would be on the floorboard. He also said it would belong to him and not his passenger, the report says.
When asked how much marijuana might be in the vehicle, Hargrove said he wasn’t sure if it would be more than 20 grams. Deputies then searched the vehicle and found a glass jar inside a McDonald’s bag on the floorboard that contained a green leafy substance that field-tested positive for THC and weighed 43 grams, the report says.
Upon further questioning, Hargrove said he paid about $250 for the drug. He said he wasn’t sure how much was in the jar but admitted that he usually gets about 39 grams for $250, according to the report.
Hargrove, who lives at 9370 S.E. 144th Pl. in Summerfield, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with possession of marijuana over 20 grams, possession and/or use of drug equipment and failure to appear in court on a charge of no motor vehicle registration. He was released Tuesday morning on $3,500 bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.