Cocaine, meth and weed found during several traffic stops, Florida Keys deputies say
Florida Keys road deputies made several traffic stops this week resulting in significant drug finds, the agency said.
On Tuesday night around 9:30 p.m., deputies pulled over a Dodge Avenger at mile marker 54 because it’s tag light was out and it had “an improperly mounted registration sticker,” said Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Adam Linhardt.
When the deputy walked up to the car, he smelled “a strong odor of marijuana emanating” from the car, Linhardt said. The driver, 28-year-old Cristhian Camilo Suescun-Santiago, from Davie, told the deputy there was marijuana in the car, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies found a total of 1.8 pounds of marijuana in plant and edible form, Linhardt said. They also found two fake IDs in the purse of passenger Maria Paula Mesa-Aparicio, 24, also from Davie, according to the sheriff’s office.
As of Thursday night, they both remain in county jail — Suescun-Santiago on an $80,000 bond for felony marijuana possession and fake ID charges, in addition to misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession, and Mesa-Aparicio on $50,000 for two counts of felony possession of fake identification cards.
On Wednesday, around 5:30 p.m., deputies pulled over a car in the Middle Keys city of Marathon that was “following too closely” to another car, Linhardt said.
A police dog “alerted to the presence of narcotics” in the car, and police found a half ounce of cocaine and about two ounces of marijuana, Linhardt said.
They arrested 54-year-old Joaquin Fernandez of Summerland Key on two felony drug possession charges. On Thursday, he remained in county jail on a $20,000 bond.
Also on Wednesday, around 8:40 p.m., deputies stopped a Chrysler Intrepid they say was speeding and illegally passing other cars at mile marker 30 on U.S. 1 in Big Pine Key.
They found small amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana inside the car, as well as a glass pipe, Linhardt said.
The car’s driver, Ronald Roberto Rivas, 43, from Fort Lauderdale, was arrested on multiple counts of misdemeanor drug possession, and felony counts of driving with a suspended license, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving with an attached vehicle tag that isn’t assigned.
His passenger, Katie Campbell, 42, of Islamorada, was arrested on misdemeanor methamphetamine possession.
On Thursday, Rivas was in county jail on a $43,000 bond, and Campbell on a $10,000 bond, according to online jail records.
