A Village of Santo Domingo resident was arrested after a K-9 alerted on his pickup at a Circle K in The Villages.
Timothy Francis Byrne Jr., 42, who lives at 2027 Cordero Court, had been driving a white Ford pickup truck at 2:03 a.m. Sunday when he was pulled over at the Circle K at 1527 Buenos Aires Blvd., according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. His license plate had been stripped of its green paint and spray painted with black paint. He admitted he had received a ticket earlier in the day in Lake County for the license plate violation. Byrne was “visibly shaking and trembling” and would not make eye contact with the deputy. A K-9 unit was summoned to the scene and the dog alerted on the pickup. When Byrne was asked to step out of the pickup he became “verbally combative and aggressive while recording the interaction on his cellphone.”
During a pat down, a cellophane bag containing marijuana was found in Byrne’s pocket. Inside a hidden compartment in the truck gear shift, three pieces of crack cocaine were discovered, as well as methamphetamine.
The Illinois native was arrested on felony charges of cocaine and methamphetamine possession, as well as a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.
He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $5,000 bond.
