Local News
Man booked on 2011 charges
Pallavi Agarwal | Highlands Today
Published: December 4, 2012
AVON PARK - An Avon Park man who was facing an active warrant on drug charges from August 2011 was taken into custody Thursday and now faces more felony charges, according to a Highlands County Sheriff's Office report.Published: December 4, 2012
Sheriff's deputies arrested Enrique Nehemiah Scarlett after a search warrant was executed at an Avon Park home on Lacey Street, where they found a safe that contained Scarlett's IDs, a loaded handgun and a bag of cocaine, according to the report.
He was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia from last week's incident.
He was also booked on the August 2011 charges: possession and sale of marijuana and misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run and resisting an officer.
According to the August 2011 Avon Park Police Department report (before it was taken over by the sheriff's office), Scarlett eluded a police officer who was chasing him, first in a vehicle and then on foot, dumping a bag containing marijuana and oxycodone before jumping a fence and escaping, the report adds.
The police officer reportedly saw the car Scarlett was driving and another vehicle parked side-by-side in the area of West Lake Isis Avenue and North Central Avenue and went to investigate when he saw "individuals walking outside of the vehicles," the report states.
The two cars took off when they saw the police cruiser with the lights and siren on, the report adds.
The car Scarlett was driving, a black 2005 Dodge sedan, "coasted" into the front yard of a West Lake Isis Avenue home, and Scarlett ditched the car while it was still running and fled on foot, the report adds.
The police officer recognized Scarlett, the report adds. As he was fleeing, Scarlett threw a bag on the ground and jumped over the fence behind the home, the report adds.
The bag contained a scale, 14 grams of marijuana, 35 oxycodone pills and "numerous" plastic jewelers' bags that reportedly are used for packaging narcotics, the report adds.
The vehicle was still running when the officer returned to examine it, the report adds. The Dodge's front left narrowly missed striking a telephone pole but came to rest against a telephone conduit box, the report adds.
He remains in Highlands County Jail.