Follow-up Friday: Another plea deal, jail sentence after ‘a small bulge in her front left pocket’ turned out to be meth

Follow-up Friday: Another plea deal, jail sentence after ‘a small bulge in her front left pocket’ turned out to be meth

TAVARES, Fla. – A senior citizen who spent nearly a year in state prison on drug charges decades ago is back behind bars after she was sentenced for yet another.

Simone Arlene Mace changed her plea to no contest, last Monday, Jan. 13.

She was arrested last June 21 after a police officer in Florida noticed the car she had just parked had a license plate that was stolen in nearby Seminole County.

Her passenger may have known that since he “removed the tag from the vehicle before trying to conceal it,” Mace’s arrest report said.

“For safety purposes,” the officer wrote, “I asked Mace if she would consent to a consensual search of her person. Mace agreed to the search and willingly allowed me to pack down her pockets.

“While conducting the search,” the officer continued, “I felt a small bulge in her front left pocket. Upon discovering that during the pat-down, I emptied the contents in her left front pocket, in which a clear plastic baggie that contained a white crystal-like substance consistent with methamphetamine fell out, unto the floor.”

The substance tested positive for methamphetamine, and Mace was charged with possession. She got 90 days in jail with credit for 50 days served, plus court costs, investigation costs, and fines.

“Mace had six guilty convictions for possession of a controlled substance” at the time, the arrest report noted.

Two of those convictions came after a traffic stop on Oct. 7, 2022.

A sheriff’s deputy ran her license plate and “a seize tag order was discovered, and the registered owner, Simone Mace, appeared to possess a suspended driver’s license,” the arrest report said.

Follow-up Friday: Another plea deal, jail sentence after ‘a small bulge in her front left pocket’ turned out to be meth
Simone Arlene Mace was booked on drug charges in (from left) 2000, 2022, June and September 2024, and January 2025. (Fla. Dept. of Corrections | Lake Co. Sheriff’s Office)

“During the course of the traffic stop,” the deputy wrote, “Simone provided consent to search her vehicle. Upon search of the vehicle, one straw containing clear crystal-like substance was discovered on the passenger side, in a coin purse, in a black tool bag.

“Upon further search of the vehicle, in a separate black tool bag on the passenger side,” the deputy reported, “another straw containing clear crystal-like residue was discovered, along with two glass pipes containing residue, and a small container containing clear crystal-like substance was discovered.

“The residue from the first straw and the substance in the container field-tested positive for methamphetamine.”

Mace was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. She ended up spending four-and-a-half months in jail before her release in lieu of $1,000 bond.

Then, just two weeks later, she pleaded no contest and was sentenced to time served plus costs and fines.

Mace served most of the year 2000 in state prison, from Jan. 20 to Nov. 1. She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years on four counts of cocaine possession she’d committed 10 years earlier in Orange County.

Online records show Mace, now 68, also took a plea deal there, and that she still owes money.

ALSO FROM THE ‘FOLLOW-UP FRIDAY’ FILE:


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