Had Scott Patrick Harmon been wearing a seatbelt as he drove down Interstate 75, he might have gotten away with carrying the 37 pounds of marijuana police said he had in his car.
However, Gainesville Police arrested the 35-year-old of Peyton, Colo., Wednesday afternoon on charges of marijuana trafficking and giving a false ID to law enforcement after officers pulled him over on a traffic stop, according to an arrest report.
At about 2 p.m., an officer pulled Harmon over near Micanopy and noticed something hanging from the bottom of his car. The officer smelled marijuana coming from his car, according to the report.
The officer wrote Harmon a citation on the seatbelt violation, according to the report.
After writing the warning, the officer searched Harmon’s car and found three suitcases filled with about 37 pounds of marijuana wrapped in clear plastic bags — worth roughly $175,000 — according to the report.
During questioning, Harmon told the officer the driver’s license he provided was his brother’s and that his license was hidden in a pocket in his backpack, according to the report. He didn’t comment about the weed.
Officers booked Harmon into the Alachua County Jail at 7:20 p.m., where he remains as of press time in lieu of a $125,000 bond.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/24/2014 under the headline "Man arrested during traffic stop with 37 pounds of marijuana"]
