A Wildwood woman and her husband were arrested after fighting with officers about their bicycles to avoid the discovery of narcotics.
An officer saw 43-year-old Jessica Darlene Kea and her husband, 41-year-old Jose Alberto Martinez, riding bicycles westbound on East Kentucky Avenue around 7:55 p.m Thursday, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. Their bicycles did not have rear lights, so he stopped them at the intersection with Second Avenue.
Kea got off her bicycle and started walking toward the officer while Alberto Martinez immediately began arguing the legitimacy of the stop. He claimed the reflectors on his bicycle were sufficient. They both were asked for ID but could not provide it at the time, the report said.
The argumentative behavior and the couple’s attempts to distance themselves from the bags attached to their bicycles led to the officer to request a K-9 unit respond to the scene. Another officer arrived in the meantime, causing Kea and Alberto Martinez to become verbally combative and continue arguing the legitimacy of the stop, the report said.
Once the K-9 unit got there, the couple grew irate and refused to step away from the bicycles. Another officer told them that they would be arrested for obstructing if they did not comply, to which Alberto Martinez did. Kea refused to back up, so an officer tried to place her in handcuffs, the report said.
She responded by attempting to walk away and pulling her arm away from the officer. She was eventually secured and put in the back of a patrol vehicle. The K-9 then alerted to the odor of narcotics, and a search began with Alberto Martinez’s bicycle, the report said.
As the officers looked inside the bag on the frame rails, he became increasingly verbally irate. A large machete was located beneath the top frame of the bicycle but no narcotics. Those were found after a pat-down of his person, revealing methamphetamine and cocaine, the report said.
An inventory of Kea’s bicycle followed. Officers found multiple bags and purses in the handlebar basket, resulting in the discovery of methamphetamine inside a pink phone case within a purse. Also in the purse was a zippered bag with drug paraphernalia, a baggie of cocaine, three methamphetamine pills wrapped in plastic and burnt tinfoil, the report said.
Kea later admitted to having narcotics in her possession. She added that she was being combative with law enforcement due to her concern that Alberto Martinez could face deportation if illicit narcotics were found. She claimed ownership of everything in her bag and stated she had struggled with an addiction to illicit narcotics since 2016, the report said.
Kea was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, resisting arrest without violence and interfering with police canine. She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center with bond set at $7,000.
Alberto Martinez was arrested on charges of interfering with police canine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, resist (obstruct without violence), drug equipment (possess or use), false ID given to law enforcement officer and smuggle contraband into prison. He was to be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.