Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A woman arrested for child neglect and a man caught by a deputy with methamphetamine signed pre-trial intervention agreements, allowing them to avoid prosecution if they adhere to the terms of their contracts.
Erin Leigh Fipps, 34, of Starke was arrested on Jan. 25 for child neglect.
According to an arrest report, two women spotted an unsupervised child wandering close to State Road 100 West near County Road 225.
In the report, Bradford Detective Joseph Shiller wrote that Fipps, the child’s guardian, “did not feel anything was wrong with the situation.”
“She also got mad (when) Deputy Malley mentioned DCF was getting involved too,” the officer added.
Michael David Arthur, 62, of Starke was arrested on Feb. 9 for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia, and smuggling contraband into a jail.
According to an arrest report, an officer pulled over Arthur for driving 65 in the 55-mph zone on U.S. 301 between Murray Ford and the bypass.
A search of the vehicle and the defendant yielded two glass pipes with methamphetamine residue and 0.01 grams of the substance within the defendant’s wallet.
After deputies transported Arthur to jail, they found another gram of methamphetamine within a folded one-dollar bill inside a small coin pocket in the defendant’s jeans.
