DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Five people are facing numerous charges after the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) investigated a weapons complaint at a U.S. 1/ Ridgewood Avenue motel, finding a handgun and five different kinds of illegal drugs.
Members of DBPD’s Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) Unit served two search warrants soon after arriving at the Best Southern Sun Plaza Motel (1011 South Ridgewood Avenue) Friday morning (February 19, 2021), allowing them to enter two separate rooms at the motel in search of illegal narcotics.
It’s the second time in the past three months that DBPD’s POP Unit has served drug-related search warrants for rooms inside the Sun Plaza. Three people were arrested in the prior raid last December.
“We’re still having issues with criminal activity at this motel,” says DBPD Captain Scott Lee, head of the POP Unit. “We will continue to take enforcement action when necessary. We expect the motel owner to take immediate action to keep the criminal element off of his property.”
Patrol officers were sent to the Sun Plaza around 6:30 a.m. last Friday after a man called 911 to tell emergency dispatchers that he heard gun shots coming from a specific room at the motel.
Once they came on scene, those officers found shell casings in the motel’s exterior foyer along with two people who were in the room where the gun shots were reported to be coming from. One of those people – 43-year-old Leandris Scott – was the subject of an open arrest warrant.
Scott and the other person – 30-year-old Alexandria Medina – were detained for questioning and searched, at which point officers found a silver handgun and drugs inside of a purse in Medina’s possession.
As the investigation progressed, officers found that Scott was involved in an argument with another man who was still on the motel property – 40-year-old Jasone Bodiford – and that Scott fired three shots on the ground during that verbal dispute.
That led the officers to look into the room Bodiford went into after the shots were fired, finding him there along with 45-year-old Torranno Smith and 42-year-old Tyreemah Green.
Officers discovered illegal drugs left in plain view inside both motel rooms during that security sweep, prompting POP officers to obtain search warrants for each room which were signed by a Volusia County judge.
POP officers found the following illegal drugs during the investigation:
- Methamphetamine: 22.3 Grams
- Cocaine: 17.75 Grams
- MDMA (Ecstasy): 0.14 Grams
- Fentanyl: 3.7 Grams
- Heroin: 19.2 Grams
Investigators also seized $1,455 in U.S. currency found inside a brown bag in one of the rooms along with the handgun found in Medina’s purse.
Bodiford was taken into custody after officers discovered a small plastic bag containing ecstasy in his possession while he was being questioned. He’s charged with possession of MDMA.
The charges against the others are as follows:
Scott:
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
- Possession of ammunition by a convicted felon
- Aggravated assault with a firearm
- Possession of cocaine with intent to sell
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
Medina:
- Armed trafficking in heroin (14-28 grams)
- Possession of cocaine with intent to sell
- Possession of fentanyl with intent to sell
- Carrying a concealed firearm
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
Green:
- Trafficking in methamphetamine
- Possession of fentanyl with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a 24-hour convenience store
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
Smith:
- Trafficking in methamphetamine
- Possession of fentanyl with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a 24-hour convenience store
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
Besides the two raids at the Sun Plaza, the POP Unit has conducted two other similar raids since December 2020 where 11 people in total were taken into custody, one at the Camellia Motel in early December and the other at a home on Ribault Avenue in late January.
