A DeSoto County deputy stopped a van for going 75 in a 60-mph zone, and what started as a routine traffic stop ended with five charges. According to the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office, the deputy spotted an AR-15 between the center console and the driver’s seat, then called in Cpl. Santana and K9 Lucy. Lucy alerted on the van, and a search turned up 77 grams of methamphetamine, a scale, a glass pipe, and two bags holding 11 pounds of saw palmetto berries.
The driver, Dewayne Rose, told deputies he picked the berries in Sarasota, though he could not produce a permit. Saw palmetto harvesting is regulated in Florida, and this is the season when the berries draw pickers across the Suncoast. Rose also had a suspended license and is described by the sheriff’s office as a six-time convicted felon. He was booked into the DeSoto County Jail on five charges, including meth trafficking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
It’s the kind of story that starts as a traffic ticket and ends as a weapons and drug case, with Florida agriculture as the oddest detail in the middle. Every year, saw palmetto berries are harvested and sold into the supplement trade, which is why the permit rules exist in the first place.
Have you ever seen saw palmetto pickers out working the brush here in Southwest Florida? Tell us in the comments.
