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(Courtesy photo) A traffic stop led Sherioff's deputies to the Edgewater home of Randy Freeman, who was alledgedly running a meth lab.
EDGEWATER -- An Edgewater man was stopped Tuesday night for having a revoked license during what started as a routine traffic stop. However, drug paraphernalia was discovered in plain view in his car, which led to further investigation revealing materials commonly associated with a meth lab in his home, a Volusia County Sheriff's spokeswoman said.
Randy Freeman, 29, was arrested and taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach.
Deputies witnessed Freeman get into his car at about 3:15 p.m., but a check of his tag number revealed that it was expired and that his driver's license had been revoked. But before deputies could conduct a traffic stop, Freeman had driven off. However, he returned to his home at 129 Wildwood Ave. at about 6:35 p.m. during which deputies stopped him.
"When they approached the driver they saw him trying to hide something," Sheriff's spokeswoman Priscilla Ress said. "He was ordered out of the car. As Freeman was coming out of the car, investigators saw a purple Crown Royal bag sitting on the driver's seat with a glass smoking pipe with whitish residue sticking out of the bag. There was also a small blue bag containing powder which tests showed to be methamphetamine."
The Sheriff's spokeswoman said around Freeman's neck was a pill container which had two pills identified as Roxycodone, a generic form of oxycodone, which is sometimes taken in conjunction with meth. More drug paraphernalia was found inside the car, she said.
"Investigators say Freeman admitted they were his and he had been smoking meth earlier in the day," Ress said. "After getting consent, investigators entered Freeman's house where they found a can of Coleman fuel, a bottle of unknown liquid, a gas can with a tube sticking out of it and a coffee filter containing red powder."
All of these items are familiar to investigators as items used to produce methamphetamines.
The Volusia Bureau of Investigation was immediately notified and assumed the case, Ress said, adding Freeman confessed to the possession of Methamphetamine manufacturing equipment and possession of the items in the vehicle.
Freeman was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail where he was charged with possession of Methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving on a revoked license. He is being held on a $1,700 bond. More charges are pending in relation to the meth lab chemicals found at the home.
FAST FACTS
VBI is a multi-agency task force that pools resources from nine local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in order to target mid- and upper-level narcotics traffickers as well as racketeering and organized crime. Participating agencies include the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, Daytona Beach Police Department, Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety, DeLand Police Department, Port Orange Police Department, New Smyrna Beach Police Department and the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
VBI also is part of the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA, which is a multi-agency task force established by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy to combat drug trafficking along the seven-county area hugging Central Florida's I-4 corridor.