A 44-year-old homeless man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading to selling methamphetamine near Starke’s Smyrna Baptist Church in February.
Bruce Austin Lee pleaded to two counts of selling methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a place of worship, possession of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a place of worship, and use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony. He also pleaded to the April 30 offenses of fleeing and eluding, resisting an officer, and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
According to court papers, a confidential source from the sheriff’s drug task force traded $80 for the narcotic around 10 p.m., February 2, from the defendant at a Pratt Street address. Detectives supervised a second buy to the source for $100 an hour later. The sales took place 350 feet from the church.
Deputies said that in April, the defendant fled from them on a motorcycle in Hampton and on foot east of Starke. Department of Corrections tracking dogs helped apprehend Lee near Southeast 150th Street.
