A Florida Department of Corrections officer was arrested Sunday after a law enforcement K-9 alerted on his car in a parking lot at the Lowell Correctional Institute in Marion County.
Florida Corrections officials said Pedro Enrique Mercado-Mundo admitted he had marijuana in the car. During a search of the vehicle, corrections officials found the drug in a small clear bag, as well as an orange-and-black grinder containing marijuana residue, a small blue scale and a black-and-white-striped glass pipe with a black residue that field tested positive for marijuana, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office report says.
Mercado-Mundo admitted to a deputy that he smokes marijuana and had done so as recently as one week ago. But he said the items found in his car belonged to a friend that he had dropped off at about 1 a.m. He said he had promised the friend that he would store the items for him inside the center glove compartment of his car, the report says.
Mercado-Mundo was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was booked on charges of smuggling contraband/possession of a controlled substance on the grounds of a state correctional institution, possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mercado-Mundo was held on $4,000 bond.
