A security check in the parking lot near a Spring Hill Target store resulted in the arrest of a woman accused of trafficking in Fentanyl.
According to Denise M. Moloney, media relations manager for the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), around 11:48 pm, on Nov. 10, Deputy C. Cobb and her trainee, Deputy J. Rodriguez, were in the parking lot of the Target store at 4410 Commercial Way in Spring Hill conducting a security check when they came upon a silver Ford Taurus double parked on the parking lot’s north side.
When they checked the suspicious vehicle, Cobb discovered a white woman slumped over the driver’s seat. In an effort to assess her well-being, Cobb called out to the woman who appeared to be the sole occupant of the vehicle, and knocked on the driver’s side window several times.
When she finally became somewhat alert, the woman who appeared to be very lethargic and seemed to have difficulty gaining her senses, opened the driver’s door and told deputies that she was “ok,” and just napping. Via her Florida ID card deputies identified the woman as 50-year-old Danielle Marie Richards.
While conversing with Richards, deputies saw a syringe filled with a red liquid substance on the passenger’s seat. They saw a second syringe on the floorboard behind the driver seat.
The deputies subsequently had Richards exit the vehicle so that they could thoroughly search it.
That search revealed that a black nylon zippered bag containing several plastic bags containing a crystal-like substance and a powder-like substance had been placed in the engine bay next to the vehicle’s battery.
In field testing the crystal-like substance which weighed 68.2 grams tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine. The eight plastic bags of the powder-like substance had a combined weight of 23.2 grams and tested positive for the presence of fentanyl.
During the search also deputies found a silver cylinder containing a total of 23 pills including six morphine sulfate 60 mg pills, three oxycodone hydrochloride 15 mg, ten oxycodone Hydrochloride 5 mg, three clonazepam 1 mg, and several other unidentified pills.
Based on the results of their search, deputies arrested Richards. She was booked into the Hernando County Detention Center on charges of possession of methamphetamine, trafficking in fentanyl. She was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
The investigation into the case remains ongoing.
Anyone with information about the case should contact Hernando County Crime Stoppers by calling 1-866-990-TIPS (8477) or texting **TIPS from a cell phone.
All those who submit tips to Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $5,000.
