K9 Finds Drug Kit In Van; Owner Thought She Left It At Home

LAND O' LAKES, FL -- A 25-year-old woman said she was surprised when a Pasco County Sheriff's K9 discovered a zip-up case containing methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs in the van she was riding in. She told sheriff's deputies that she thought she left her "drug kit" at home.

On Friday, Feb. 22, a sheriff's deputy spotted a suspicious Chevrolet van on Land O' Lakes Boulevard. When he ran the plates, he discovered that the owner didn't have a valid driver's license so he pulled the van over.

Shortly after, Deputy Chris Stockton arrived with K9 Jango and conducted a narcotics "sniff" around the exterior of the van. Jango got a positive hit for drugs so the deputies searched the van and found a black zip-up case behind the front passenger seat. Inside the case were two syringes, a section of a straw with white powder on it, a bag containing methamphetamine and another containing heroin and a pill later identified as quetiapine femarate, available only by prescription.

Gina Marie Castellano of Dover, a bartender at Ukulele's, admitted the case was hers but told deputies she though she left it at home.

She was charged with possession of meth and heroin and taken to the Land O' Lakes Detention Center where bond was set at $5,000.

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