Jones enters plea of ‘Not Guilty’
The Sarasota Police Department has arrested a 35-year-old city resident on a total of six felony counts and one misdemeanor charge related to the possession and trafficking of narcotics, including fentanyl, the agency has announced.
Demarius Rodderick Jones, of 3036 31st Way, was placed under total bond of $120,000, his Sarasota County Jail booking records show. Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court records note that no bond was set on the count involving fentanyl.
As of early afternoon on April 15, he remained in the detention center, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office records said.
On April 6, the Police Department reported, detectives with the agency’s Strategic Investigations Unit (SIU) and patrol officers executed a search warrant at Jones’ home after receiving information about Jones from probation officers with the Florida Department of Corrections.
Jones “was on probation for multiple felony offenses out of Sarasota and Mantee counties,” a news release explained.
During the search, the release continued, officers found the following items:
- 90.2 grams of fentanyl.
- 25.9 grams of cocaine.
- 10 amphetamine and dextroamphetamine pills.
- 19 hydromorphone pills.
- 39 grams of marijuana
- A round of .223-caliber rifle ammunition.
- Clear plastic bags, straws and two digital scales with white powder residue.
- More than $10,000 in cash.
Jones is facing the following charges, the news release added:
- Trafficking in fentanyl 4 grams or more.
- Possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church.
- Possession of controlled substances (amphetamine and dextroamphetamine).
- Possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone).
- Possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
- Possession of ammunition by a Florida convicted felon.
- Possession of drug paraphernalia.
At the time the search warrant was executed, the news release continued, Jones said he was the only person living at 31st Way address. “The home is less than 900 feet from a church,” the news release pointed out.
The Probable Cause Affidavit in this case says that Jones’ residence is “approximately 871 feet from the Truvine Missionary Baptist Church.”
On April 9, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show, Jones’ attorney entered a plea of “Not Guilty” for Jones and demanded a jury trial for him. The attorney is Alexandra Baishanski, an assistant public defender, the document notes.
“This case remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the Police Department news release said. Anyone with any information relevant to it is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 941-263-6070, or — the release added — a person may remain anonymous in calling Crime Stoppers of Sarasota County at 941-366-TIPS (8477).
The Probable Cause Affidavit resulting from the execution of the search warrant on April 6 says that when Jones checked in with probation officers the same day, an officer “went through [his] phone” and discovered text messages referencing “narcotics sale activity.”
When probation officers went to Jones’ home, the affidavit continues, they found “possible illegal narcotics on [a] table, and two digital scales.”
They stopped their search and contacted the Police Department, the affidavit adds.
A News Leader review of prior charges against Jones found that the first 12th Judicial Circuit Court record for him dates to August 2016, when he was cited for failing to stop at a red light. He has received numerous other traffic citations, including those involving his not wearing a seat belt, failing to have a driver’s license when a law enforcement officer asked him to produce one, driving while his license was suspended, speeding, and careless driving.
Among other charges, in September 2014, he was arrested on three counts of trafficking in a controlled substance (oxycodone, dilaudid and cocaine). However, the State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial District declined to prosecute him on those charges, court records say.
Then, in January 2024, he was charged with drug possession counts that led to his being on probation when he was arrested on April 6, court records indicate.