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Drunk driving suspect ensnared in marijuana bust

 
Published Oct. 12, 2015

Yasiel Martinez picked a bad day to drink by the water.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the 25-year-old Tampa man was in a boat ramp parking lot along the Courtney Campbell Causeway when deputies showed up. Martinez backed into a deputy's car, said, and showed signs of impairment. He blew into a breathalyzer with blood-alcohol content readings of .143 and .144 — both well above .08, the level at which a driver is presumed intoxicated in Florida.

Deputies were not originally at the boat ramp for Martinez, though. They were conducting a separate, distinctly Floridian investigation.

With a plane overhead, undercover deputies found marijuana in the mangroves by the ramp. They took away 68 mature plants, good for about 77 pounds of marijuana that would have netted $114,500 on the street, according to the Sheriff's Office.

That investigation continues. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Martinez is not a suspect.

"He just happened to be out there drinking and not paying attention," she said.