Three men were arrested on multiple charges early Thursday morning after deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit and SWAT team raided a house in Fruitland Park.
The deputies arrived at the house, located at 2905 Arbor Ridge Cir. and had the three suspects in custody several minutes later. All three – 43-year-old Scott Edward Holland, 45-year-old Donnie Richard Coleman and 36-year-old Ashton D. Edwards – were then transported to the Lake County Jail, where they are being held while awaiting upcoming court dates.
After Holland was taken into custody, deputies found a small black, vinyl pouch in his front pants pocket that contained $210 and a clear plastic bag with a crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, a Lake County sheriff’s report states.
Inside Holland’s bedroom, near a mirror with the words “Scott’s Ice Cream Parlor” written on it, deputies found 11 pieces of counterfeit money – 10 $5 bills all with the same serial number and one $20 bill. And under his pillow they found a burnt glass smoking device and several used hypodermic needles, the report says.
Deputies also found a plastic Wal-Mart bag containing two smaller clear plastic bags with a crystal-like substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine. The bag was found next to a mattress in a portion of the living room that had been converted into a makeshift bedroom where Edwards slept, the report says.
Holland was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of 10 or more forged (counterfeit) bills. He is being held on $8,000 bond and is due to appear in a Lake County courtroom on April 29 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Per an outstanding Sumter County warrant, Coleman was charged with failure to appear in court on a battery charge involving a person detained in prison or jail. He was being held on $6,000 bond and is due in court on April 11 at 8 a.m.
Edwards was charged with possession of methamphetamine and violation of probation for possession of the drug. He was being held on $2,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 29 at 8 a.m.
Neither Holland, Edwards or Coleman are strangers to the Lake County legal system. Holland and Edwards were arrested in a similar incident in November 2018 after deputies from the sheriff’s Special Investigations Unit executed a search warrant at the same Fruitland Park house.
They found a Ziploc bag containing a crystal-like substance between a box spring and mattress in a bedroom. Oxycodone, pills and heroin also were found, some of it in holes in the bedroom wall and in a secret compartment in the ceiling. The unit also found a BB gun that looked like a .357-caliber revolver, digital scales, Ziploc bags and currency sorted into different denominations, a sheriff’s office report says.
Holland also was arrested in December 2009 and charged with possession of cocaine. Edwards also was arrested in April 2016 and charged with burglary and grand theft. And Coleman has been in the Lake County Jail eight other times since January 2010 on charges of stalking, violating probation, knowingly driving with a suspended license, battery and depriving the use of 911.
