Wanted Palmetto woman found with 49 grams of molly, other drugs in car and bra, police say

The name she gave wasn’t hers, nor was the license plate on her Mercedes. But, police said, the drugs in her bra — and the center console — were.

Sarasota police arrested 35-year-old Latoya Carley on a slew of felony charges Monday after officers found her illegally parked in a handicap spot at Fred Atkins Park. Police said they began investigating after running her license plate and finding it belonged to a blue Chevrolet truck, not the black Mercedes she was driving.

According to her arrest report, officers approached the car to find Carley leaning against the center console — she would later tell them she did so to hide the drugs she had stashed inside. When officers asked for a name and driver’s license, she told them her name was Kimberly Jones and she didn’t have identification. When they searched the name, however, nothing came back.

When Carley finally told police who she was, a search of the Palmetto woman’s name showed a number of felony arrests and active warrants. According to Manatee County records, a number of Carley’s felony arrests over the years yielded convictions for burglary, battery, auto theft and drug possession. Records also showed two active warrants for felony violation of probation, one stemming from a 2018 grand theft auto conviction and one from a 2019 drug possession conviction.

According to her arrest report, officers found a bag of marijuana in her bra. In the center console of the car, officers found more than 49 grams of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, a Percocet pill and three cigars rolled with the molly. According to the report, she told officers a friend rolled them for her to smoke “because she has long nails and cannot roll a blunt.” The molly, she said, had been bagged to sell.

Carley told officers she bought the car through the app LetGo the day before and a mechanic in Palmetto put the tag on. She told officers she went to a nearby house with a man and another woman to purchase a “large amount” of molly, the report said. She told officers the man sat in the backseat and placed the molly into smaller bags so it could be sold. She told officers she dropped friends off at the park.

According to Carley’s report, she told officers she saw them coming, closed the console with the drugs inside, then leaned on it to hide the drugs from officers.

Carley is currently being held in Sarasota County Jail in lieu of $97,000 bail.

She faces felony charges of trafficking amphetamines, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell within 100 feet of a public park, unlawful possession of a controlled substance for the Percocet and a misdemeanor charge of providing a false name to law enforcement.

She was also given a traffic citation for illegally parking in a handicap space.