Stolen car search yields narcotics trove at Sarasota hotel

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - An alert about a stolen car soon led Sarasota police to uncover a drug trove.

The officer discovered the car had been stolen out of Manatee County and called for backup. Multiple officers arrived at the SureStay Hotel on Tamiami Trail, waiting for whomever would come out to claim the car.

In time, they found one woman coming back and forth between the car and the hotel’s front office. While watching they also learned the woman, Jessica Gibson, wasn’t alone. Fernando Rivera sat in the driver’s seat, with Stephanie Putnam in the passenger seat.

Once police had surveyed the scene, they moved in.

Gibson immediately tried walking away and Rivera started making quick movements, but officers commanded all three to move away from the vehicle.

A quick search of Rivera’s pockets revealed a bag of marijuana, while Gibson’s pockets yielded fentanyl, and a tied-off grocery bag in Putnam’s hoodie hid meth. Those coupled with loose needles lying in plain sight inside the car gave law enforcement the right to search the vehicle.

A bag in the car’s center console held the majority of the drug haul: meth, alprazolam, crack cocaine, morphine, and more, including a scale and a knife with residue on the blade. Another smaller black Coach bag held yet more crystal meth, morphine, and alprazolam, as well as a glass pipe.

At first the group insisted they had a right to drive the car; according to them, Kane Reynolds had given it to them. Later, though, when talking with Manatee County deputies, they confirmed Reynolds had been the one to steal the car.

Law enforcement believes the group intended to sell the drugs there but had not yet begun to do so when police found them.

All three suspects insisted they had nothing else on them upon the time of their arrest.

After officers checked the rearview mirror camera however, it showed Putnam pulling crack cocaine out of Gibson’s bra, then hiding it between her legs. After viewing the footage, officers went to confront the women. When they found Putnam, she was on the toilet, hiding the contraband in the bowl beneath her.

All three face numerous charges. SCSO does not currently show any charges pending against Reynolds.