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Published on Thursday, October 13, 2005
in the St. Petersburg Times
Traffic stop turns up guns, drugs
Troopers say they found several pounds of drugs, three rifles and a handgun in a car stopped for speeding.
LAND O'LAKES - The car first drew suspicion because of its speed: 81 mph along a 55 mph zone on State Road 52.
But the traffic stop Monday morning east of U.S. 41 turned up far more serious crimes. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper said when he walked up to the gray Mustang he smelled marijuana. Then the driver gave a false name. Ultimately, a search of the car turned up multiple guns and drugs weighing in the pounds.
The patrol arrested Jesus Cardenas-Gonzalez, 20, who has two listed addresses in Dade City: one on 14th Street, another on Brenda Road.
He faces a litany of charges: possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, carrying a concealed weapon, giving false identification to a law enforcement officer, battery on a public servant and driving with a suspended license.
In addition, Cardenas-Gonzalez was wanted on Pasco warrants accusing him of failing to appear in court on charges of not having a valid driver's license, reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash.
According to the patrol's report, Cardenas-Gonzalez's hands shook, and his voice cracked as he spoke. After giving a false name, he admitted to having a suspended license and being wanted on arrest warrants.
After troopers took him into custody, he tried to make a deal, offering "all the guns in the car" in exchange for his freedom, the report says.
The guns turned out to be two loaded assault rifles and one Hipoint Model 995 rifle in the trunk and a loaded Ruger .45-caliber handgun under the driver's seat with the serial number scratched off.
In addition, troopers discovered a garbage bag containing about 8 pounds of marijuana divided into small plastic bags, two other bags of marijuana, three glass pipes and a bag containing nearly 2 ounces of cocaine, the report says.
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