On December 8th, 2024 in Florida around 11:03 p.m. a woman called 911 about a vehicle on East Blue Street. The caller said that a white Tesla was parked behind the house and she believed it was being used for narcotics activity. But that wasn't all. She also told dispatch that the people inside the car were armed.

Sergeant Zapata and Officer Hauser were the first to respond. When they reached the property, they found the Tesla exactly where the caller said it would be, parked on the north side.

“What are you doing here?” The first response was unclear. “Who else is in the car? Hey, you step out too.” “He lives here.”

“Okay. Well, the person that lives here is the one that called.” “Oh.” “Oh, are you staying right there? All right.”

An officer tried to clarify who lived at the house and who had been told to leave the property.

“Can I tell the one that lives here to step out?” “Nope. Has the parents ever told you here not to not to come back or not to be around here? No.”

“You have? Yeah. Okay. No.” “You know your son's in the car?”



The exchange briefly became difficult to hear as family members spoke over one another. An officer then told the younger people they should be inside the house.

“All right, but just say um”

“I already told him to step out. I don't want them in my yard. I don't want nobody at my house. So if he can't listen, take him with you. I mean what I said.”

“Go to your car. You got You got anything in the car you shouldn't have? Okay, yeah, we'll trust you.” “What I have”

“What you got?” “a firearm” “You got a firearm in there? Yeah.” “Okay. Where's it at?”

“Under my seat. I have a license for it.” “Keep your hands out of your pockets.” Officers then coordinated who would handle each detainee and vehicle.

Deputies found four people in the car. The driver that came out first was identified as Jeremiah. The one on the passenger seat was identified as Sherrod. And in the backseat was a man who told them his name was Mark, whose mother had shown up at the scene by then, too. The fourth person in that car was Ben Gibson II.

And it turns out it was his mother who'd actually called 911 in the first place. The police decided to detain them all as they went through the vehicle.

“All right, go ahead and face your car. There's nothing in your pockets that's going to prick, stab, poke, or hurt me in any way, shape, or form, is there? All right, put your hands on the car. All right, don't put your hands in your pockets. You're not under arrest at this time.”

“You're just being detained for our safety. All right, come on. Hey, is your car unlocked? Is your car unlocked?”

“unlocked.” “All right, come on.” “What's going on?”

“Let's get in the car. Have a seat. How do you feel in there? Show me your hands.”

“You got it. You got it. All right.” “Get in the front here.” “Pull him.” “Front seat.”

“Sit down.” “Not sure I want to do it.” “Get in the front of the car. All right, we'll go put these Yeah, I got them. We'll go put them in my car.”

Once the individuals were secured in the police cars, the officers moved to search the vehicle. Jeremiah had already made them aware that there was a firearm inside the car, but the deputies had no idea they were about to find much more than that.

“Okay.” “I don't know what you're doing.” “I'm going to put them in my car.” “I'm going to put them in my car.”

“Put them” “I got it.” “What do I do with this here?” “How do we start running that? We need to start working on names for everybody. Okay.”

“I'll work on this person and run the information. Where was this?” “That was in a backpack in the rear trunk area, so it may belong to the driver.”

“All right. Uh whose backpack?” “Do you know?”

“I haven't asked that yet, so” “Well, get to it here in a minute.” “An officer said they would continue identifying everyone, run the serial numbers, and document the evidence before deciding who could leave.” “need from us?”

“For right now, um I think if we can have If you guys need to One of you guys need to go, it's fine, but we'll get the rest of everybody. Okay.” “Um if Whoever is going to leave, can leave, but somebody stay here with him while I run the serial numbers and stuff like that. And I talked to mom to figure out why her son's here with us. Okay.” “I'm going to get some pictures and stuff cuz there's a like a whole unloaded joint in the back, so I want to get that where it actually is in the car.”

Deputy Lichty found the first weapon, an AK-47-style rifle, tucked halfway under the driver's side seat, right in the back. It had a magazine in it, and a round already chambered. More importantly, it was sitting right where the guy identifying himself as Mark had been sitting, close enough to grab. Sergeant Zapata found the second gun on the floorboard up front, a loaded Glock 44 handgun. Both weapons were in the arm's reach of the passengers.

With the guns, ammunition, and bags of suspected marijuana laid out as evidence, all four of the individuals were looking at potential felony charges. But, before anything else, the officers needed to identify everyone and gather basic information. That's when they uncovered a shocking detail about the guy who identified himself as Mark.

“Did you get um You got this guy's name?” “No, I'm not. I'm working on it right now.”

“No. Okay. Cuz I got his my guy's name, Sherrod Crawford.” “Hey, I'm 90% confident this is him in the picture.”

“Did he?” “Yeah, it doesn't come back with one like traffic stop involving him, but there's no ID or driver's” “cuz it says he's 11 years old. He told me he's 15.” “He says Mark Spearman.”

“Okay, I'm confident he's lying. He gave me something else wrong.” “What did he What did he give you?” “I don't know his name.” “Here, if you want to open and talk to him, you can.”

“Um We'll wait.” “Wait, let's get the information to this guy right here.” “My guy? Yeah. Yeah.” “You got his information?”

“Yeah, it's already in the car.” “Did you search the car already? Yep.” “You can be careful with the gun.”

“Yeah, there's no car. I already got pictures of it. I left it in there for right now. Um I can start collecting it.”

“If you already photographed it, start collecting it.” “There was a partially prepared joint on the floor behind the driver, near where the juvenile had been sitting.”

“Yeah. So, um all right, yeah, go ahead and start collecting it. Uh test it. Okay.” “Before we start Mirandizing and start telling him about”

“I got you. Did you test it?”

“I haven't heard his actual name yet.” “Okay. Got pink?” “Yeah, it's like a pinkish tint, so Okay.”

“Yeah, so that works for me. Um this is the kid in my back car. This is the name and birthday that he gave me. Okay.”

An officer compared the name and date of birth the juvenile had provided with information supplied by his mother. “So he gave you a different name? This is Jamarcus, and that is his mom.”

“Okay, so fake name, real name.”

“Mom. Okay.” “So, I get charged with resisting, though?”

“I'll get back to you in just a second and I'll be in the back of the car. I need to get him cleared so he can hop in the back. Okay.” “At least one of them. All right.”

“Thanks, man.” “Get up. What's your name?” “Jamarcus.”

“Come on. All right, come on. This way, passenger side. Go ahead and have”

An officer discussed leaving a body camera near the detainees to document any conversation while the investigation continued.

“Well, what are you going to do right now? Are you going to tell her to lock the man and search the car or are we going to lock her and search? Okay.” “So, what else you want What else you need to know?” “So, I searched the car and found this here.” “What's that?”

“Are you going to stay here because he gave them a fake name just now.” “Yeah, I'll I'll stay with him. Okay.”

“Stay with him. Talk about this fake name that he gave her initially. Okay.” “Hey, so what's your What's your real name, man?”

“Marquise Smith.” “What name did you give the deputy when he first talked to you?” The juvenile repeated the name. “And what is your last name again?”

“Smith.” “And what name did you give the deputy?” “Marquise.” “Okay, but is that your real name? So, why would you give a fake name?”

“It wasn't my fake name.” “Okay, so when the when the officer asked you what your real name is, it's not whatever nickname you have, it's your real name.” “I would just give my nickname.” “Why? Cuz you're doing something you shouldn't be?”

“No, I would just give my nickname.” “That's it.” “Relax. This place sucks.” “So, how does Jamarcus tie into Mark”

“That's my dad's name.” “That's your dad's last name?” “It's a different name. But like my dad's name is” “So how do you get the last name? Is it your mom's name?”

The juvenile said one of the names was connected to his mother. Officers then moved on to confirm the other occupants’ names and arrest histories.

“Yeah. How do you spell your first name?”

“Sherrod.” “Where were you sitting in the car, front or back?”

The deputies ran background checks on the individuals and found out Sherrod had been arrested three times in the previous 6 months with charges that included fleeing from police, fugitive warrants, and drug offenses. Jeremiah, the driver, had progressed from minor crimes to armed burglary and was already out on bail for that case when this traffic stop happened. Gibson had battery and witness tampering charges going back years and Jamarcus Sanders, the guy who lied about his name, he had almost no record because he was likely a juvenile. The only thing investigators knew for certain was that he had been sitting right next to that loaded rifle and that wasn't looking good for him.

Officers compared notes on where each person had been sitting and confirmed the driver’s identity from the information already collected.

“Yeah, I'm going to read it to you. It's Mirandize Okay.”

One officer thanked another for documenting the weapons, then asked what each occupant had said so far.

“So I didn't even question any of them yet. I just asked the what the guy about the name. Okay.” “So go ahead and Mirandize them. Okay.”

“Are they all over 18?” Officers clarified that one occupant was 20 while another was a juvenile, and identified the juvenile’s mother nearby.

“Okay. So All right. So Mirandize take the one guy out and Mirandize in the adult. Okay.”

“And then when you're done talking to him bring him back, take out the juvenile, and Mirandize in his mom there. Okay.”

“Right? Mhm.”

“Ask him about the gun, this whole thing. Because I asked, we all asked, "Is there any more guns?" And they all said, "No." Right.” “and behold, it's it was found underneath the driver's seat.”

“You think the AK was? Yeah. Okay.”

“So Start with juvenile first.” “The juvenile?” “Yes, sir. What's his mom's name?” “Um Emma.”

“Emma? Yeah.” “Hey Emma. Emma. Yeah.”

“Come over here, please.” “All right, so we're about to start questioning your son, but we're going to have you present while we're doing it, okay? So I'm going to read him his rights. And then”

“So but I can guarantee you those firearms are Jeremiah Torres's firearms.” “Okay, I understand that. But your son was sitting in the back seat passenger side. Mhm.”

“Okay, and there was a It looked like he was attempting to roll a joint, okay? So there's no He doesn't have a medical marijuana card or he's not of age, okay? So that's Okay.” “the main thing there. And then also on top of that, when the deputy asked him”

“He didn't tell me.” “He gave him a fake name.” “So he gave him the name Mark, which I guess is his father's last name.”

The mother explained that the juvenile sometimes went by “Mark” because of his father, but officers noted that it was not the legal name they had requested.

“Yeah. All right, but yeah, I'm going to pull him out to bring him back to the car. You you'll be present cuz I'm sure you'll know if he's lying, too. us. Step out.” “Is there a way that I can” “Go walk to the back of the car.” “the other boy”

“Walk around the back of the car.” “Walk around the back of the Because I have already threatened him before.” “Uh-huh.” “He took him to the mall because I thought he was a teenager when he first started coming around. Okay.”

“And then I saw” “The guy that drives a Tesla? Yeah. Okay.” “And I saw a mug shot of his on off my FSL recently.” “Uh-huh.”

“Then I realized he was 25 years old. Okay.” “I let him know I don't want him hanging with him cuz he's a 15-year-old. He's a grown ass man. There's nothing good comes from a grown man hanging around with children.”

“Especially with assault rifles in the car. Right.” “turn around face up against the back of the car. No, turn around towards me. All right, just lean up against the car.”

“But I had already threatened him from being around my kids. Right.” “Is there a way to charge him with criminal trespassing on my property?” “We'll We'll look into that, ma'am.” “Cuz I You just don't understand.”

“I understand, trust me.” The conversation about the older man ended, and an officer turned back to a detainee. “You've been arrested before, right?” “Yes, sir.”

So I'm sure you know all about your rights being read to you, okay? So I'm going to go ahead and read them to you real quick, all right? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to have an attorney with you prior to, during, or after any questioning.

If you cannot afford an attorney and desire one, the court will appoint one for you. You may stop questioning at any time by refusing to answer further or by requesting to consult with your attorney. Do you understand each of these rights that I've explained to you?

“Yes, sir.” “Okay. Having these rights in mind, do you wish to answer any questions or make a statement at this time?” “No, sir.” “You don't wish to say anything?”

“No, sir.” “Okay. So you don't want to talk?”

“I don't have anything to say. We were just watching Netflix.” The officer acknowledged that he did not want to answer questions and ended the interview.

“wasn't doing nothing.” “That's okay. Just go back in the car. Come on.” “The detainee repeated that he had not been doing anything wrong.”

“Yeah, hold on. Let me roll this window up real quick. So, with that being said, um with everything being in immediate control and in his possession where he was sitting, he's probably going to go for that. Um cuz you got to learn that this stuff early in life is not good. You and I both know what Yeah.”

“where this leads up. It leads to one or two places.” “Yeah. Yeah.”

“Jail or the grave. Okay?” “The conversation then returned to the juvenile and what would happen next.”

“You can head back up there. I'm about to pull this other guy out and talk to him.” The mother said she hoped the juvenile would finally understand the seriousness of what was happening.

“Hopefully, we receive him cuz I really don't want to pick him up. Right.” “That's just cuz I told him Mhm.”

The mother said she had warned him before and wanted him to learn from the consequences this time. The officer explained that what happened next would be up to the juvenile system and the other authorities involved.

“But just be ready just in case, all right? You can go back up there. I'm going to pull this other guy out and talk to him.”

“Step out. Put her back in the car. You been arrested before?” “Yes.”

A detainee asked for permission to remove something from his head. The officer allowed it before continuing.

“Yeah, go ahead and remove that. All right. Do you know about your rights? Yes.”

“Okay. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to have an attorney with you prior to, during, or after any question. If you cannot afford an attorney and desire one, the court will appoint one for you.”

“You may stop questioning at any time by refusing to answer further or by requesting to consult with your attorney. Do you understand these rights that I've explained to you? Yes.”

“Okay. Having these rights in mind, do you wish to answer questions or make a statement at this time?” “Nope.”

“All right, step back in the car.” Officers then discussed whether the firearms met the legal standard for being readily accessible, focusing on their loaded condition and location inside the vehicle.

“Yeah. So, the handgun was in the case.” “Was it loaded?” “It was loaded, yeah. And so, was it a can of rifle or was the rifle loaded, too?” “Round in the chamber?”

“Round in the chamber, yep.”

“So it was loaded, with a round in the chamber. To me, that makes it readily accessible.”

“Mhm. Okay. So, So, we were just talking. If I'm If I'm correct If I'm correct here, cuz you were the one that found it. You found in the passenger side behind the driver on the floorboard.”

“Yes, I got Yeah, I got the picture of it right here.”

“That's a positive. Yep.” “Got it. Okay. And then, um the two juveniles were in the backseat.”

“Yes, that's that's the photo of it right there. Okay.” “And that's before I even touched it and picked it up. So, it looked like he was probably trying to roll it and then when we rolled up he dumped it.”

“They're under arrest for marijuana.”

Officers discussed probable cause related to the suspected marijuana, noting that it appeared to have already been placed in rolling paper in a way consistent with a partially prepared joint.

So, whatever inside the vehicle marijuana, that's your PC for the adults for contributing to marijuana probably. And then the firearms being accessible for him. I know everyone can argue semantics that it's in a hand or not, but readily available to me means loaded and immediately accessible. Now, different if it's in a locked case on the floor and I got to unlock the case and grab it and compared to readily accessible is I have it and I can just pick it up and pull the trigger. And a holster set next to the seat, while officers were speaking at the door, the concern was how quickly it could be accessed.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“So, they both sound readily accessible. It's just like I said, it's going to be the articulation of what of the state. Like upon checking they both had full magazines or magazines however it is, magazine. Both had one loaded in the chamber. Okay.”

“So, they both definitely going to put him in charges and then so is the other guy, the adult the front passenger cuz he's an adult too, right?” “Yeah. Yeah, he's 20.”

The officers continued discussing potential marijuana-related and contributing-to-a-minor charges while separating what could be tied to each occupant.

“Yeah, I'm just tacking it on to the But the juvenile in the back that I got, he's definitely getting charged with it. Yeah, well it was definitely in his immediate possession. They don't want to talk, so.” “Okay, he was giving a lot of aliases.” “Yep. Yeah, we're”

“He originally gave the deputy another name.”

“And that's his mom saying, 'No, that's my boy right there.'” “You guys good back there? Is it too hot?” “All right, cool. You'll be all right. Just relax.”

Officers had no choice but to go talk to the mothers and explain what was happening. And before wrapping up, they gave the car one more search just to be sure they hadn't missed anything.

“Hey Sonesy. So the other one is going to release, too?” “Uh not just yet. Okay.”

“But we'll talk about it in a minute. Okay.” “And um he was in possession of Mhm.”

“He's in jail now. Can't do that. And also the long firearm was literally underneath him.” “But that's not his not his.”

“Constructive possession. It's right there.” “But if it's in he's in the car with this guy, that's his stuff.”

“I understand it, but it was literally right underneath him.” “It'd be a different story if he had it in the front seat.”

“Right. It was literally right underneath him. I even asked him before I even went back there cuz I was in the front area. When I took the driver out, everybody was like this, cooperated. I asked, "Is there any other weapons in the vehicle I should know about?" And then when the bigger guy here was plain as day, you could see it literally right underneath his uh his feet.”

“But it's it's not his. It's not his weapon at all. How do how can we” “You talking about the driver? The driver.”

“Oh, we're getting ready to hook him all up. He's getting all kinds of charges.” “But that's his vehicle. He's just in the vehicle. It's not his gun.”

“I understand but it doesn't have to be gun. If he's going to be in constructive possession like anywhere area and it was loaded on top of that. Fortunately.” “Yeah, it was it was ready to rock and roll.”

“It was literally dead I could I didn't see it, but as soon as the deputy opened the door and your son walked out, clear as day. It was literally right there. So. Again, these are the charges that he's going to take with him. So DJJ, doesn't mean it's going to stick, it's going to be up to the attorneys.”

“Okay. I'm just letting you know that's where per law it's going to go. Okay?”

“Yeah, they don't print all of that now.”

“Yeah, we got to do the we got to do their investigation portion of it. Um you know, I could give him a white band, but if he's in possession of it, you know, not literally in possession, but could be anywhere in this area. Doesn't have to be even though it's mine. You know what I mean? The driver definitely got a laundry list of phony charges against him. Um so yeah, go ahead and start.”

“Make sure you add with the minor.” “Oh yeah. Oh yeah.” “You're not giving permission to leave without me. Let's ask him cuz he's probably going to do it.” “Uh I can get my brother's phone.”

“Who's that?” “A family member tried to explain who another person was, but the exchange was difficult to hear.” “Just hold on one second.” “Another brief exchange was unclear as officers continued sorting property and evidence.”

“Just hang on. We got other stuff.”

The officers briefly coordinated how evidence and paperwork would be transferred among deputies after the shift.

“I found out why the car still smells like it.” “Why?” An officer said several wrappers that initially looked like candy packaging appeared to be dispensary-style packaging with residue inside.

What first looked like trash in the back of the car contained small amounts of loose residue with a strong odor. Officers set the items aside as potential evidence and continued the search.

“I got you.” “What's up?” “No, I found some more stuff.” “Where?”

“In the center console. Stuff that I thought was like candy. Okay.” “Yeah, it's where it was.”

“Um like wrappers um that comes from the dispensary or wherever it comes from and then more rolling papers. So but the wrappers have like shake in it and that's why that car smells like it. Okay. Um the new or the new shake that you found? Mhm.”

“Okay. Test that. See if it comes back to anything.”

“It's it might not even be testable now. There's like dust. It's just got this smell.” “So that cylinder that cylinder thing that you found was out there has Yep.”

“Okay. We can test that? No.”

The officers discussed whether the small amount of residue could be field-tested and how it should be documented for the possession investigation.

“Oh yeah, driver's license and all that. All right, look in here because I don't even know if there's a trace here. There we go.”

“Did you go up front? I'll check later. Should be a middle.”

“No, there's no middle one. There's just two, yeah. The middle one's empty. There's just two. It's like a pink It's pink. Yeah, it's pink.”

“I'm not lying to your ass. It's very faint. Okay.”

“All right. Well, since it's all right now it's in the front here. Front here.”

By now, the searches had turned up quite a bit. On the floorboard behind the driver's seat, officers found rolling papers and loose marijuana scattered there, out in the open. Then, in the trunk, they came across an orange backpack and inside it an assault-rifle-style magazine loaded with ammunition. The center console had five bags of suspected marijuana and three more packs of rolling papers. And tucked inside, hidden in a fake soda can, was additional suspected marijuana.

“I was Here's a Oh, we got 10 in one here now. I'm going to go and put this in the car cuz this evidence is property. Okay.” “So, this will go in your car.” “Oops.” “That's all.”

“Hey, just to be transparent with y'all, you're both going to jail tonight, okay?” “What am I going down for again?” “Possession of drugs.” “What was it?”

“There was a container that looked like a fake can with loose marijuana inside, along with several dispensary-style wrappers that still contained residue. Because you were in the front passenger seat and it was readily accessible from there, you are being charged with possession.”

With that, Sergeant Zapata made a call. He'd process the juvenile himself as this wasn't a routine case. It fell under what's known as juvenile 707, a classification that comes from California's Welfare and Institutions Code. In plain terms, 707 covers the most serious offenses a minor can be charged with. Serious enough that prosecutors can ask the court to try the juvenile as an adult.

Meanwhile, Officer Hauser took Sherrod and Jeremiah with him.

“All right, step out. You're going in a different car.” “Yes, sir.” “What?” “Yep, over here. Take a seat in there.”

“Here we go.” “Yep. All right, step out. Where are your glasses at?” “In my hand.”

“All right, cool. Slide over here. We're going to the other side of the car.” “All right, go in there and sit down.”

“I can't fix them.” “Sit down. Hold on, stop. They're not too tight. I can get my fingers in there.”

“No, I can't move my arms.” “They're not meant to be comfortable. Sit in there. Sit in the car.”

“I can't feel my arms. That's what I'm saying.” “I'm telling you right now I can slide two fingers in these cuffs.” The detainee continued complaining about the position of his arms.

“I can't sit my arm hurts.” “Sit down. Or you're going to catch another charge.” “I'm telling you I can't sit cuz my arm is twisted in the cuff.”

An officer told another deputy that the detainee was complaining the cuffs were too tight, but said the body camera showed enough room to fit two fingers between the cuffs and the wrists.

“Hey, how are we going to notify the owner? For the tow sheet.”

“I'll teletype. Teletype to the owner the registered owner of the address. So they they can make contact with him. Let him know if he knows where his car is at.”

“I got it. I'm just going to go on teletype and do it.” “Yeah, just uh have the local agency make contact with the owner of the vehicle so he can know where his car is at.”

“I'm on 14 teletype. Reference the white Tesla in this call. Can you send local agency for the registered owner to see if they can make an attempt to contact who knows where his car is at.”

Sherrod was already on 4 years probation for fleeing and eluding police. Sitting next to that fake soda can and those rolling papers gave him a possession charge and violated his probation outright. On top of that, officers found an active Flagler County warrant for him tied to going absent without leave from the Marine Corps. As for this case, prosecutors ultimately declined to pursue that charge. Sherrod was sent back to probation on December the 23rd, 2024.

Jeremiah, the driver, got a stack of felony charges including allowing a minor unlawful access to a firearm, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unsafe storage of a firearm, and possession of drugs. At the time of this arrest, he was already out on pre-trial release for an armed-burglary case involving a firearm from August 2024. Despite that, he was released the same day, December 9th, on a bond of $3,650. As for Jamarcus, since he was a minor, his case was routed through a confidential juvenile 707 process with no booking record for the public to see.

And finally, Ben, since that day, officers found nothing on him. No charges followed and he was released on scene. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.