Daytona Beach, FL - The Daytona Beach Police Department's (DBPD) Problem Oriented Policing (POP) Unit found what they were looking for and more when they served a narcotics search warrant at a home located at 105 Braddock Avenue yesterday (August 3) afternoon. Three people, 53-year-old Stacey Leeper, 34-year-old Benjamin Hardin, and 29-year-old Karli Elliott were found at the home and arrested.
The item the POP Unit was not expecting was a small incendiary device found in one of the bedrooms. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO) Bomb Squad responded around 6:30 p.m. and took possession of the device for proper disposal. Investigators are trying to determine who it belongs to.
The POP Unit Supervisor said they've received numerous complaints that the home was being used for drug sales.
“There was a lot of traffic coming in and out of this area,” Captain Scott Lee added. “That led us to take a closer look at what was going on. We’d like to thank those people for telling us what they saw. It helped clean up this neighborhood.”
Before the raid, Leeper turned over a bag filled with 5.9 grams of methamphetamine to a police officer. She faces a felony charge for that and two additional felonies for morphine and oxycodone pills found in her bedroom during the raid. Leeper is also charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
Hardin faces a felony drug possession charge after officers found him next to a small amount of heroin tucked into a day planner found in the living room. He's also charged with a misdemeanor for giving officers a false name while being detained.
More drugs – including heroin, amphetamine, fentanyl, and over 14 grams of methamphetamine – were found in two other bedrooms inside the house, including the one used by Elliott. She’s facing felony charges of trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of heroin and fentanyl along with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
This is the seventh such raid conducted by the POP Unit since last December.
Anyone who would like to report similar issues can contact DBPD POP Unit Sergeant Kevin Connelly at ConnellyKevin@DBPD.us or 386- 671-5162.
