Key West man faces drug charges

A Key West man who was driving erratically is facing drug charges after a traffic stop Friday afternoon.

Deputy Matthew Corey stopped the white Chrysler at 1:45 p.m. Friday after he spotted it speeding northbound at 17th Street in Marathon. He had received previous information from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent who had seen the vehicle passing in a no passing zone at the 15 mile marker of the highway and driving carelessly on the Seven Mile Bridge.

When he pulled the car over, he approached the driver, identified as Dwayne Ritchie of Key West. As he spoke with Ritchie, he could smell the distinct odor of marijuana coming from inside the car.

As he spoke with Ritchie, he noticed Ritchie was nervous. When he asked for Ritchie’s identification, Ritchie indicated it was in a backpack behind the passenger seat.

Deputy Josh Baer arrived on the scene as backup. The deputies asked Ritchie if they could retrieve the identification from the backpack for safety reasons. Ritchie agreed.

In the backpack, the deputies found a Glock handgun and two magazines with 20 rounds of ammunition. They also found what looked like a ledger containing information which appeared to be related to drug sales. In the main compartment of the backpack they found 218 grams of marijuana packaged for sale.

Ritchie was arrested. As he was being transported to jail, he said he was traveling from Key West to Marathon to sell the marijuana.

He was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Woman arrested for animal cruelty

A Marathon woman was arrested Sunday for choking a six month old Siberian Husky in front of witnesses.

Those witnesses told Deputy Joshua Baer the incident took place on November 20th . They said they found the female, Lulu, wandering near Aviation Boulevard in Marathon. They recognized the dog and knew she belonged at Coconut Cay Apartments.

They took the dog home and returned her to 45 year old Diana Linares, who is the mother of the dog’s owner. After they returned the dog, they saw a man at the apartment lift the dog by her front paws and hit her with a knee to her chest several times. They then saw Linares repeatedly pick the dog up by the collar, lifting her completely off the ground and choking her. She choked her repeatedly for up to 30 – 60 seconds at a time.

The two witnesses managed to talk Linares into giving them back the dog. They took the dog to Marathon Veterinary Clinic for an examination. The dog had sustained an injury to one of her eyes which the veterinarian said was due to either asphyxiation or blunt force trauma.

Animal Control responded to the clinic and referred the animal abuse case to the Sheriff’s Office for investigation. A warrant was obtained for Linares who was booked into jail on Sunday, charged with cruelty to animals.
Search warrant on Stock Island

Stock Island – A search warrant was served this morning at a residence on Laurel Avenue on Stock Island.

Detectives from the Special Investigations Unit, along with Lower Keys Criminal Investigations detectives and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security served the warrant at 5700 Laurel Avenue, Lot-48, in Stock Island. Inside the residence detectives found 28 year old Shanon Jackson, 36 year old Mayo Anderson and two other adults, a woman and a man.

The search of the residence turned up approximately 3 grams of crack cocaine, twelve assorted pills including Oxycodone, Heroin, Marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Some of the drugs were found in a bedroom where two small children were sleeping.

Jackson was charged with possession of heroin, possession of crack cocaine with the intent to sell, child neglect, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia. Anderson was issued a Notice to Appear in court for possession of Marijuana. Jackson was booked into the Key West jail.

Miami man charged with theft, dealing in stolen property

A Miami man was charged Wednesday with stealing tools from a co-worker and pawning them.

The theft took place in June. The owner of the tools reported they were located in a bin at a Key Largo work site and included a Makita electric drill, Makita electric hammer drill and a Makita handheld grinder. A man who used to work for the company and was fired a few weeks previously was seen near the tools just prior to them going missing.

Detective Ian Barnett discovered the tools had been pawned at a Miami pawn shop. Pawn shop records showed the man who pawned them was the same ex-employee who’d been seen near the tools before they were stolen. He was identified in the pawn records as 28 year old Daniel Greenidge.

A warrant was issued for Greenidge’s arrest and on Wednesday he was booked into jail on charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property.