If you’re planning on speeding, here’s a tip from us for you: don’t carry drugs in your vehicle. A Tampa man was arrested Tuesday after deputies stopped him for what they felt were dangerous lane changes. They then found he was driving on a suspended license for the third time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he also reportedly had drugs in his car.
Deputies pulled over 36-year-old Richard Coto after watching him change lanes without signaling, according to WFLA. The stop happened around 3:34 p.m. on July 28. When a deputy asked why he was driving that way, Coto said he was late for work, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy pressed him on the risk of driving like that, telling him it would not matter if he crashed and killed himself — which makes sense, but it’s not often that you can reason with anyone doing these things.
Deputies also determined Coto had a suspended license and two prior convictions for driving with a suspended license, and they said the car was uninsured and under a cease-tag order. A search of the vehicle turned up narcotics and drug paraphernalia, which CBS12 identified as marijuana and cocaine.
Coto was arrested and charged after deputies ran down everything they found in the man’s vehicle. His charges included driving with a license canceled, suspended, or revoked, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of cannabis. All in all, not the best day for this man.
What Repeat Suspended License Charges Get You in Florida
Florida grades driving on a suspended license by how many times a person has done it and why the license was pulled. Under state law, a first knowing offense is a second-degree misdemeanor and a second is a first-degree misdemeanor, while a third or subsequent conviction can be charged as a third-degree felony. With two prior convictions already on record, another offense sits at the more serious end of that ladder. A first-degree misdemeanor alone carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Deputies also said the car was uninsured and under a cease-tag order, which is a state directive to stop using a vehicle’s registration that’s typically given when insurance lapses. Driving it anyway and violating that order is a separate offense. So the man’s charges just kept piling up the more the deputies dug into what was happening.
How a Traffic Stop Can Uncover Drug Charges
A routine traffic stop for something like an unsafe lane change can often be the entry point to more serious charges, which is exactly what happened here. Once an officer has a lawful reason to stop a vehicle, just about anything suspicious can make for a legal basis to search the car. Drugs or paraphernalia found during that search become their own counts.
For a driver already on a suspended license, that can be extremely costly. Continuing to drive while suspended raises the odds of exactly this kind of contact with law enforcement, and each stop is a fresh opportunity for a search that can surface anything illegal in the car. In this case, the lane-change stop is what put all of it in front of deputies. And the man, seemingly disregarding his safety and the safety of others around him, was racking up the charges something fierce that day.