Traffic stop results in drug arrest

Authorities arrested a Lorida man Wednesday after reportedly finding a gym bag containing clothes, hygiene products and 60 street-ready oxycodone pills during a traffic stop.

Joseph Roger Berry, 22, of 1805 Van Horne Ave., Lorida, was charged with trafficking in opium or a derivative, a first-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He remained in Highlands County Jail Friday under a $10,500 bond.

Berry was stopped Wednesday on U.S. 98 for having a revoked North Carolina license plate. Consent was given to search and that's when deputies found the small gym bag behind the driver's seat, according to the arrest report.

Two prescription bottles found were issued to a person who was not inside the car. One of the bottles contained three small plastic bags that held 20 pills apiece, while the other had 17 loose pills.

Deputies said Berry did not have a valid prescription for the oxycodone and the manner the 60 pills were packaged was consistent with the street-level sale for both pharmaceutical and illegal drugs.

John Singha, with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, made the arrest.

Sheriff's SIU arrests Lake Placid man for drugs

Shaun Patrick Fagan, 26, of 172 McCoy Drive, Lake Placid, was arrested Thursday on three counts of possession of opium or a derivative with the intent to sell, manufacture or deliver and one count each of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He remained in jail Friday under a $37,000 bond.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office's Special Investigations Unit served a search warrant at the McCoy Drive house just before 8 p.m. Thursday.

They reportedly found 17.6 grams of marijuana, four-and-a-half Methadone pills, three oxycodone pills and eight oxycontin pills.

Authorities also found a marijuana pipe and a ledger with amounts and figures they thought Fagan used to keep track of drug sales, according to the arrest report.

Michael Grieco Jr. made the arrest.