Staff report
MICANOPY, Fla. – Cedric Jabbar Lamb, 47, of Tampa, was arrested yesterday morning after a traffic stop on I-75 reportedly yielded 28 pounds of methamphetamines in a suitcase lining.
At about 7:40 a.m. on Wednesday, a Gainesville Police Department officer working with the 8th Judicial Circuit – Domestic Highway Enforcement Task Force conducted a traffic stop on a Ford Expedition for following too closely and failing to maintain a lane near mile marker 374 on southbound I-75.
The officer reported that Lamb was the driver of the vehicle, and there were three juvenile male passengers; he reported that he smelled fresh marijuana as soon as he made contact with Lamb. Lamb reportedly said he did not smoke marijuana and there was no marijuana in the vehicle. Based on the probable cause of the smell of marijuana, the officer searched Lamb and the vehicle after placing Lamb in the rear seat of his patrol car with the door open and another officer standing by the patrol car.
The officer reportedly found several small pieces of marijuana “shake” on the front passenger floorboard; when he started to search the vehicle’s trunk, Lamb allegedly forced his way out of the patrol car and ran toward the Expedition with the apparent intent of fleeing in the vehicle.