A Clermont man was arrested for trafficking narcotics after a SWAT team raided his residence and found meth in his coffee table.
The Lake County Special Investigations Unit along with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team executed a lawful search warrant at the residence of 14604 Johns Lake Rd. around 5 a.m. Thursday, Dec.19, according to an arrest report from the LCSO.
After the SWAT team breached the front door and began calling all subjects out of the residence, 50-year-old Christopher Lee Hardy came out. He advised that he was the only person inside the home. Once the scene was secured, detectives began searching the residence, the report said.
One of the detectives observed a wooden coffee table in the center of the room directly in line with the front door. There was a secondary shelf under the main tabletop. This shelf held a clear plastic baggie, which contained a crystalline substance weighing about 13.5 grams in a bag. This substance tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
Additional crystalline substance was collected from the same area of the coffee table. It weighed about 1.6 grams, which also tested positive for methamphetamine, for a combined total of 15.1 grams. Per Florida statute, 14 or more grams of methamphetamine is considered trafficking, the report said.
On the same shelf, detectives found a black digital scale with crystalline residue all over the face of it. This substance also tested positive for methamphetamine. There were also multiple empty clear sandwich baggies that contained similar residue. Based on training and experience, detectives knew drug dealers commonly use digital scales as drug paraphernalia to weigh and pre-package narcotics or distribution and/or sale, the report said.
On top of the coffee table were several homemade smoking pipe devices, one of which contained residue that tested positive for methamphetamine. There were also several plastic baggies containing a green leafy substance on the same shelf as the methamphetamine. This substance later tested positive for more than 0.3% of THC or marijuana, the report said.
During the investigation, Hardy’s bedroom was identified as the far-right bedroom of the residence. This was determined by a member of SWAT seeing him come out of the room while executing the search warrant. This was further confirmed by his wallet and driver’s license being located in the same room, the report said.
Inside of a small dresser within the bedroom was another small plastic baggie containing crystalline substance. It also tested positive for methamphetamine. More drug paraphernalia, such as plastic baggies and glass pipes, were found inside the same dresser drawer, the report said.
A detective then interviewed Hardy who admitted to possessing methamphetamine in his home. He described where the largest amounts of narcotics were located, which was in fact the narcotics found on the coffee table. He admitted to not having a medical marijuana card, the report said.
Hardy was subsequently arrested on charges of trafficking in methamphetamine (over 14 grams under 28 grams), possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana (less than 20 grams). He was transported to Lake County Jail with bond set at $102,000.