A pair of Leesburg men were arrested when an officer found several needles and some narcotics in their vehicle.
An officer patrolling near PepperTree Apartments, located at 3738 Pepper Tree Lane, saw a dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee in the area around 2:40 a.m. Sunday, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. The occupants, later identified as 61-year-old Gregory Dean Felix and 50-year-old Christopher Adam Swarthout, saw his patrol vehicle and turned to avoid him.
Seeing this, the officer drove around until he spotted the vehicle again traveling east on Pepper Tree Lane. He pulled out to follow the vehicle only for it to immediately turn into PepperTree Apartments to evade him. Due to this suspicious behavior, he parked at Sunstop, located at 9741 Pepper Tree Ln., to conduct surveillance, the report said.
It was a few minutes later at 3 a.m. when he saw the vehicle stop at the red light at the intersection of Pepper Tree Lane and U.S. Hwy. 301. He got behind it as it traveled at 33 mph in a 55-mph zone, another attempt at avoiding detection. He subsequently stopped the vehicle near County Road 110, the report said.
The officer proceeded to explain the reason for the traffic stop to Felix, the driver, while noticing Sawrthout was not wearing a seatbelt. A K-9 unit from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene and positively alerted to the odor of narcotics. A search was to follow, so both occupants were removed from the vehicle, the report said.
Swarthout was pat-down and found to have an orange hypodermic needle cap in his jacket pocket. He denied being diabetic but claimed to be insulin dependent. When the deputy asked what he was insulin dependent for, he stated he had no idea what the deputy was talking about, the report said.
A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed another hypodermic needle cap inside the front passenger door panel. There was also a green plastic bag with a dark-colored zippered cloth bag of Felix’s medication. Under this was a plastic grey Walgreen’s bag of unused hypodermic needles with orange caps, the report said.
This sat on top of two used capped hypodermic needles. One contained a small amount of brown liquid, believed to be used to inject narcotics, which tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl. There was also another orange needle cap in a jacket pocket in the back seat, the report said.
Both occupants were ultimately detained in handcuffs, after which Felix agreed to talk. He stated Swarthout was his husband who had been arrested for drugs before. The green bag belonged to both of them, but he did not know who the hypodermic needles belonged to. He did not know why they were in there, either, the report said.
He further advised that Swarthout would smoke the narcotics, or methamphetamine in this case, he consumed. He added that they gave a gentleman a ride earlier, and he was sitting in the back seat, the report said.
The officer asked if he would find needle marks on Felix, and he stated, “Oh, yeah.” He claimed they were old marks from B12 and doing drugs. He did methamphetamine but was adamant it was two or three years ago, the report said.
Law enforcement next spoke with Swarthout who stated he did not know whose stuff was in the bags or what it was, the report said. He mentioned giving a gentleman a ride, too. When confronted about the needle caps found on his person, he began to say, “No, sir…I’m not gonna argue with you.”
He repeatedly denied using narcotics and would not give a timeframe when asked about his previous drug-related arrest. He also denied having needle marks and claimed the jacket with the needles caps did not belong to him. He put the jacket on because it was all he had, the report said.
The two men were ultimately transported to the umer County Detention Center. But when a correction officer opened the back door of the patrol vehicle, he saw a clear cellophane bag with 0.7 grams of methamphetamine sitting between the plastic seat and the door panel. It was evident that Felix took it off his person and tried to hide it in the patrol vehicle, the report said.
Felix and Swarthout tried to say it was not theirs and that it had been there before they were. Another search of Felix revealed an orange hypodermic needle cap in his right front pants pocket, the report said.
Felix was charged with possession of methamphetamine, drug equipment (possess or use) and destroy evidence. His bond was set at $7,000.
Swarthout was charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug equipment (possess or use). His bond was set at $4,000.