A Gainesville man was arrested Monday afternoon when drugs were found in his car after he was stopped for speeding in Summerfield.
The incident started when a Marion County sheriff’s deputy spotted a silver Honda Accord traveling west at a high rate of speed on SE 147th Street. The deputy paced the vehicle and determined it was going 70 mph in a 45-mph zone before initiating a traffic stop, a sheriff’s office report states.
When he approached the vehicle, the deputy immediately detected the odor of marijuana and observed a partially smoked cigar lying on the lower dash area and could see a green leafy substance sticking out from the front end of the cigar, the report says.
The driver, 25-year-old Harvey Michael Gilliard, 25, told the deputy the cigar contained marijuana and handed it over. As the deputy began searching the vehicle, Gilliard told him he would find a marijuana pipe that belonged to him inside the center console. The pipe contained a dark residue that field tested positive for marijuana, the report says.
Alongside the pipe were two dollar bills – one rolled up and the other folded into a square. When the deputy unfolded the dollar bill, he observed a white powdery substance that field tested positive for cocaine. The deputy also found a cigarillo wrapper and four partially smoked cigars containing a green leafy substance that field tested positive for marijuana, the report says.
Gilliard said the pipe and initial marijuana cigar belonged to him but he denied knowledge and ownership of the cocaine and claimed he didn’t even know the dollar bills were there.
He also told the deputy he was unaware that the cigarillo wrapper contained marijuana.
Gilliard said the vehicle belongs to him and he is the only person who drives it. He said he had just dropped off a friend who was in the vehicle before being pulled over but the location he gave differed greatly from where the passenger claimed to be dropped off, the report says.
Gilliard was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams and possession of drug equipment. He was taken to the Marion County Jail where he is being held on $4,000 bond. Gilliard will answer to the charges in Marion County Court on March 26.
