LAKE PANASOFFKEE, Fla. – A man under arrest showed up in jail with scrapes all over his face and a Band-Aid on his forehead. It followed a chase from sheriff’s deputies.
A deputy reported seeing “a suspicious incident” while “conducting a property check” at a motel parking lot in Florida, about 3:30 a.m. last Friday, Feb. 7.
Jason Christopher Adams, 24, was “bent over, rummaging in the rear passenger-side seat” of a car.
“I suspected a crime was being committed at that time, possibly a vehicle burglary,” the deputy wrote.
The deputy described Adams as “very sweaty and nervous. While speaking with the defendant, I walked close to the open front passenger door. While I was looking into the open door, the defendant advised the vehicle was registered to him and he was currently living in it.
“While at the door, I observed suspected illegal narcotics and paraphernalia in plain view inside the vehicle. I observed a medical marijuana container on the front driver seat, and aluminum foil with burnt residue consistent with narcotics use in the front passenger door pocket.
“I asked the defendant if he had a medical marijuana card, at which time he replied, ‘Yes,’ and provided it to me.
“I asked the defendant if there was anything else in the vehicle, to which he answered there was foil in the vehicle he used to smoke fentanyl. I then began to detain the defendant by reaching towards him.
“As I was reaching for him, I advised him he was being detained, at which time he turned abruptly and fled on foot in a full sprint.
“I chased after the defendant on foot while giving verbal commands to stop. I also gave a verbal warning of Taser deployment. The defendant did not stop running and I deployed my Taser several times.
“[A deputy trainee] was also chasing after the defendant, and deployed his Taser as well.” The arrest report does not mention how many probes from the stun guns may have hit Adams.
Apparently on the ground, the deputy wrote, “The defendant still continued to resist by trying to get up and run away while we were attempting to detain and handcuff him. We eventually forced the defendant’s hand behind his back and detained him.”
Authorities took Adams to an emergency room to be medically cleared, and then to jail, where he was booked at a minute before noon.
Authorities searched his car and reported finding several “illegal narcotics and paraphernalia.”
The drugs were .80 grams of marijuana that was not prescribed, .77 grams of fentanyl, a vape cartridge with THC oil residue, a black pouch with 2.02 grams of fentanyl, 1.10 grams of methamphetamine wrapped in foil, and .33 grams of cocaine in a small yellow bag.
The paraphernalia items were a metal marijuana pipe and aluminum foil.
Adams was charged with six crimes, including three felonies: possession of fentanyl, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, possession of a small amount of marijuana, possession of drug equipment, and resisting without violence.
Normally, he would’ve been allowed to pay $9,500 bond and be released from jail, but Adams is being held without bond because he was on probation: Exactly 10 days into a three-year probation sentence.
That bit of trouble started when Adams was actually driving that car in Citrus County. He didn’t stop at a stop sign in Citrus County on Sept. 15, 2023, so a deputy pulled him over and told him what he did.
Adams gave the deputy his driver’s license and reportedly permission to search his car.
“The suspect exited the vehicle,” the deputy wrote, “and was patted down for weapons. [The deputy] also asked the suspect if [he] can search his pockets,” and Adams reportedly allowed that, as well.
But, “While patting down the suspect near his inner thigh of his right leg, [the deputy] felt an object that was not consistent with the human body.
“Upon asking the suspect what the object was, he advised that he had fentanyl on his person. The suspect then reached into his pants and removed two folded pieces of aluminum foil and a cut blue-in-color plastic straw. Inside each aluminum foil was a powdery substance” that tested positive for fentanyl.
“The narcotics and paraphernalia were collected and turned into evidence,” and Adams was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, and with possession of drug paraphernalia, but he apparently wasn’t arrested.
The deputy’s document was an affidavit to a judge for an arrest warrant, rather than an arrest report, and it was dated more than seven months after that traffic stop – April 26, 2024 – without explanation.
Adams was actually arrested on the warrant on May 2 “by members of the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Impact Unit, along with members of the United States Marshals Service,” and his bond was set at $3,000, which he paid within a few days.
Order of Drug Offender Probation, July 23, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Then, on July 23, Adams took a plea deal, pleading no contest and getting sentenced to three years of drug offender probation for the fentanyl charge, and four days in jail with credit for time served for the paraphernalia, plus court costs.
Affidavit Violation of Probation, Jan. 9, 2025 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Unfortunately, Adams violated his probation after just a few months “by failing to report to the probation officer as directed” on Dec. 10, even though the officer “attempted numerous phone calls for the offender’s listed phone number, which yielded no success.”
The violation report dated Jan. 9 also said he did not “successfully complete or remain in drug/alcohol treatment until the provider determines that treatment is no longer necessary,” since he “was discharged unsuccessfully due to unexcused absences on 11/14/24.”
The probation officer recommended “a warrant and a VOP hearing to proceed as soon as possible,” since Adams “was not drug tested for the month of December.”
The officer also asked that Adams’ “current supervision be modified to include a 7 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew for 90 days, as well as bi-weekly urinalysis testing for 90 days.”
Adams was arrested on a second warrant on Jan. 13 and held without bond.
Two weeks later, on Jan. 28, Adams was sentenced to more of the same probation, released from jail, and his case was closed again, 10 days before his latest arrest and hospital visit.
Adams also has an arrest record in Lake County. He was pulled over shortly after midnight on July 30, 2022, because of a tail light issue, and arrested not long after an inconsistent exchange.
“I asked the driver where was he coming from,” the officer wrote, “and he stated Palatka. The driver stated they went there to pick up a friend. I asked the driver where was his friend, and he stated in Palatka. I asked the driver for the name of the friend, which he would not provide. The driver then changed his story and advised they got lost, and was supposed to be heading to Tavares, but ended up in Palatka. All the occupants” – he had two passengers – “advised they were not from the area.”
The officer had Adams get out of his car. Then he wrote, when asking about the passengers, “I observed him shaking and fidgety.
“I asked Adams if there was anything illegal inside the vehicle, which he stated no. Adams had a blank stare when he responded no. Adams then quickly stated, ‘why are you going to search?’ I advised Adams that I was not going to search the vehicle, but I was going to deploy my certified narcotic detection K9 partner, Mya, around the vehicle.”
Mya detected something and officers reportedly found “numerous white pills … that were not prescribed,” “a red digital scale with marijuana and a white powder residue on it, and clear empty bags.” They also reported finding “a plastic bag which contained what appeared to be dried mushrooms.”
The officer wrote Adams “admitted to owning the mushrooms. Adam advised he had recently picked the mushrooms and was going to ingest it for his birthday,” which was three weeks away. “Adams stated he has done this before, which had him hallucinating for approximately 48 hours. Adam stated he did not know the mushrooms were in the vehicle, and believed he had left them at his house.”
He ended up arrested for possession of psilocybin mushrooms and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Neither passenger was arrested.
“A criminal history on Adams revealed multiple drug arrests but no convictions,” and that was the case yet again.
Announcement of No Information, Aug. 18, 2022 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
A few weeks later, prosecutors announced they would not pursue either charge. They cited a 2008 Florida case where a suspect’s behavior was not enough for reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Adams’ criminal history started with an arrest in Citrus County back in 2019, when he was only 18.
The state was investigating a couple whose child was “possibly being exposed to a dangerous environment,” and Adams was in their apartment when a deputy showed up to help the investigator.
Eventually, the deputy wrote, “At the doorway to the back bedroom, I observed [the man] getting out of bed. As [the man] stood up, I observed a clear plastic baggie containing a white crystal-like substance,” and then the man admitting “the plastic baggie did in fact contain methamphetamine and that it belonged to him.”
Adams tried to walk into the bedroom during that conversation, and the deputy told him, “He was not going to be allowed in the back bedroom.”
The deputy wrote, “Adams then became verbally aggressive, stating I did not have a warrant and that he did not have to listen to what I was saying.”
Adams “continued to be verbally defiant and refused to sit down,” so he was arrested, but “began to actively resist by trying to pull his arm out of my grasp.”
He was charged with resisting without violence and sentenced to a year of probation and 80 hours of community service.
Order of Modification of Probation, Jan. 21, 2020 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
About nine months into the year of probation, Adams asked “that the remaining balance of his community service hours be converted to an additional fine,” and the judge agreed to do it for $800.
The order did not mention the number of hours that amount bought him, and the arrest report did not mention his relationship with the parents, or what happened to them.
Twice in the month after the judge eliminated community service, while Adams was still on probation, he was pulled over and charged with drug crimes.
On Feb. 6, “The defendant was asked if there was anything illegal within the vehicle,” a deputy wrote. “The defendant then spontaneously uttered that he had methamphetamine in his bag.” The arrest report also said he had a glass smoking device used to smoke cannabis.”
Then, 10 days later, Adams was caught speeding. The deputy reported he “could smell the odor of cannabis emitting from within the vehicle.”
He had Adams get out and told him “he was not under arrest but being detained for the smell of cannabis,” but he’d soon be arrested for another reason.
“Mr. Adams, at that time, was patted down for officer safety,” the deputy wrote, “at which time I felt a hard metal shaped object located within his waistband. As soon as I grabbed the object, Mr. Adams immediately told me it was brass knuckles. I removed the brass knuckles, to which were tied to his waistband. I asked Mr. Adams if he had a concealed weapons permit, to which he stated he did not.”
That’s when he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
That November, Adams was sentenced to two years of probation.
But in July, while that case was making its way through the justice system, a sheriff’s deputy responding “to a verbal disturbance” arrested Adams for possession of a controlled substance and possession of cannabis.
Before his probation was up, Adams asked the judge to end it early, writing in a letter, “So much has changed for me, in my life, and in my attitude and behavior.”
The letter worked. Adams got early termination, only to be arrested three more times in three counties.
Unless anything changes, he’ll remain locked up until his arraignment, scheduled for April 14, in the case involving Tasers and the hospital.