“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.