A Village of Belvedere resident was arrested early Thursday morning after a police dog alerted to the presence of narcotics during a traffic stop in Oxford.
David Keith Andrew Chanowsky, 57, was driving a white Ford Flex at about 2:30 a.m. when he was pulled over by a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office sergeant at U.S. 301 and County Road 104 due to an expired license plate registration. Chanowsky was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
The sergeant requested assistance from the Wildwood Police Department, which dispatched an officer and a certified narcotics-detection dog named Mika to the scene. Mika conducted a free-air sniff and alerted to the odor of drugs coming from the vehicle.
During a subsequent search of the Ford Flex, law enforcement located a large glass smoking pipe sitting on the front passenger seat. The pipe contained a burnt residue that field-tested positive for heroin, according to the arrest report.
The New York native was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug equipment. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,000 bond.