- April 25, 2024
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Deputies caught a nine-time convicted felon with 44 grams of Oxycodone Dec. 17 after he fled a traffic stop.
“This was a remarkable job by deputies getting this poison peddler off the street,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, according to a news release from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. “Just in this guy’s vehicle, he had enough Oxycodone for 1,100 lethal doses and clearly has no shame in repeating the same offenses for trafficking poison again and again. He is laughing at the system and needs to go to prison for a long time. It’s time to get tough on this poison peddler.”
An FCSO deputy had tried to stop a speeding Maserati on State Road 100 near West Black Point Road, but the driver, later identified as 32-year-old David Howard Jr., sped up, running a red light and fleeing toward Volusia County.
Deputies used stop sticks to deflate Howard's tires, then secured him and a passenger in a felony traffic stop.
The passenger said she didn't know the driver's name, but that they had traveled together from Orlando to Palatka to see his friend, and were heading back toward Orlando, according to an arrest report. She said she'd told him to stop for law enforcement, and that he'd called his mother and told her that police were chasing him and that he was about to go to jail.
When deputies searched the car, they found 44 grams of Oxycodone and 20 grams of marijuana, plus $5,651 cash. Howard also was driving on a license that had been suspended since 2016.
He has been charged 43 times in Florida for previous crimes including Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, Use or Display of Firearm During Felony, Possession of Weapon/Ammo by Convicted Felon, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Aggravated Battery on Law Enforcement Officer with Motor Vehicle, and an assortment of drug-related crimes.
Howard has been convicted of nine felonies in Florida and has also faced multiple felony drug charges in Illinois.
Deputies arrested him on charges of Trafficking Oxycodone 25g or More, Fleeing with Disregard of Safety to Persons/Property, Driving While License Suspended with Knowledge, Selling of Oxycodone, and Possession of Marijuana 20g or more.
He was taken to the county jail.
