An Ocala man was arrested in the parking lot of a Villages grocery store late Wednesday morning after a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy stopped him for having an expired temporary tag and not wearing a seatbelt.
When the deputy stopped the gold Oldsmobile driven by 32-year-old Monte Jacob Walsingham outside the Publix at 1566 Bella Cruz Drive, he smelled an odor of marijuana coming from the car. Walsingham told the deputy he didn’t have his driver’s license, registration or proof of insurance and provided a false name with a different date of birth, a Sumter County Sheriff’s Office report states.
Walsingham was detained in handcuffs after a computer check based on the information he had provided came back with “no record found.” The deputy told Walsingham that he was going to search his car, at which point he said he wanted to “be honest” going forward, the report says, adding that Walsingham admitted to using his brother’s name.
Walsingham told the deputy that he had marijuana in his pocket and methamphetamine in the car’s center console. He provided his correct name, date of birth, admitted that his driver’s license had been revoked and said “he knows he needs help” and “this was meant to be.” And he said he had planned to turn himself in for violating his probation because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to provide a clean urine sample for a drug test.
Field tests showed that the substances the deputy found were marijuana and methamphetamine, the report says, adding that Walsingham was on active felony probation out of Marion County for a past drug charge involving methamphetamine.
Walsingham, who lives at 11178 SE 29th Ave. in Ocala, was transported to the Sumter County Detention Center and charged with knowingly driving with a revoked license (habitual offender), possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana (not more than 20 grams), giving false identification to a law enforcement officer and a probation violation. He was being held on no bond for the probation violation charge and $12,000 bond on the other charges.
