2 suspects arrested in Port Charlotte after being found with drugs, toddler in vehicle

Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published:
Michael Roebuck and Lauren Samocki. Credit: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

A man and a woman were arrested in Port Charlotte after a Tuesday traffic stop for a seatbelt violation led to the discovery of multiple narcotics in their vehicle alongside a 1-year-old child.

While traveling north on Tamiami Trail, Charlotte County Sheriff’s deputies say they observed Michael Roebuck, a 34-year-old man from Valparaiso, Indiana, driving without his seatbelt fastened. After being pulled over, deputies gave him a warning for the violation. When a deputy asked Roebuck and his front-seat passenger, 36-year-old Port Charlotte woman Lauren Samocki, if there was anything illegal inside the vehicle, they said there was not.

A K-9 unit directed deputies to multiple areas of the vehicle after an open-air sniff. During the following search for probable cause, deputies found a black wallet on the passenger seat, which Samocki had been sitting on. Inside the wallet was a baggie containing several smaller baggies filled with a white, powdery substance, which was suspected to be fentanyl. Samocki claimed to have no knowledge of the wallet’s contents. A search of the bag on Samocki’s waist revealed another baggie of the same substance.

In the center console of the vehicle, deputies located a soap dish container containing additional baggies filled with a white, powdery substance as well as a tampon applicator which also had the substance in it.

In the backseat of the vehicle, deputies found a black rubber box at the feet of a 1-year-old child. The box contained a blue cloth bag, inside of which were two pipes used for methamphetamine, a baggie containing methamphetamine and a hollow object with four baggies of narcotics wedged inside. The deputies believed three of these baggies contained fentanyl and one contained cocaine.

All of the suspected narcotics were tested and found to indeed be fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.

Both Roebuck and Samocki were arrested and the Department of Children and Families was notified to take custody of the child. Samocki was found to be on active felony probation from a previous, out-of-county offense.

Samocki and Roebuck are currently being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond.

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