Authorities recently found something interesting in a man's underwear, leading to his arrest during a traffic stop, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
Sergeant Daniel Weaver pulled over 42-year-old Stephen Joel Horton, a convicted felon, around 8 p.m. on October 20 on State Road 100 near Colbert Lane in Palm Coast. He reportedly spotted Horton driving behind businesses on Flagler Plaza Drive and speeding through a construction zone. The driver changed lanes directly in front of Weaver's unmarked patrol vehicle, forcing the sergeant to slam the brakes and avoid a crash.
Before Horton eventually pulled over, Weaver noticed the 42-year-old's Nissan Rogue "rocking back and forth as if someone was moving around rapidly inside the vehicle," according to the sheriff's office.
As Weaver was speaking to Horton, he noticed a "large blade sheath" tucked between the driver's seat and the center console. The sergeant then asked the nervous-looking driver to exit the vehicle, but when the door opened, Weaver spotted a piece of burnt tin foil "consistent with drug use" fin the door's map pocket. There was also a butcher knife on the driver's floorboard, per deputies. Horton told Weaver the knife is for cutting sod.
Things got a little bizarre as Weaver began searching Horton's person and felt something solid near his groin area.
"A small metal tin with three clear plastic baggies inside was found and contained less than a gram of methamphetamine inside one of the baggies while another had residue traces of fentanyl," deputies wrote.
Weaver is heard repeatedly asking Horton what's in his pants, to which the driver responds, "I don't know, man. What d'you just grab?"
"Is this the Twilight Zone right now?" the sergeant asks incredulously. They reportedly found drug paraphernalia inside the Rogue, as well, including a green tube with "white powder residue inside."
Horton was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility for six charges, including felonies of evidence tampering, possession of fentanyl, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He's being held on an $11,000 bond.
This is the fourth time Horton's been arrested this year and his ninth arrest overall, deputies noted.