Marijuana oil, pot and nearly $10,000 found in teen’s car, cops say

A Hollywood man was arrested on more than 80 felony drug counts Monday night after Monroe sheriff’s deputies say they found dozens of cartridges of marijuana oil in his car, regular “leafy” marijuana, drug equipment, including scales, a pipe, and almost $10,000 cash.

Luis Octavio Alvarez, 18, is in county jail in Plantation Key with no bond information immediately available. His arrest came after deputies pulled him over on U.S. 1 in Islamorada after they say he illegally passed a pickup truck in the center turning lane while heading north, according to Deputy Ana Coello’s arrest affidavit.

Coello was backup for the deputy who pulled over Alvarez’s gray Honda Civic at 11:30 p.m. She stated in her report that she and her colleagues smelled marijuana emanating from inside the Civic. The deputies ordered Alvarez and the six other teens in the car to get out while they searched the car.

Deputies found 41 marijuana oil cartridges in four shoe boxes in the trunk and three loose cartridges found elsewhere in the vehicle, according to the arrest report. Marijuana oil is “vaped” from electronic cigarettes similar to the nicotine versions that have exploded in popularity.

Deputies also found 22.3 grams of conventional leafy marijuana in several places in the car, according to the report.

The drug equipment included the scales, a butane torch lighter, four electronic cigarette batteries and a “one-hit” marijuana pipe. As the name implies, one-hitters are used to smoke a small amount of marijuana.

The cash was found in two blue backpacks — $8,790 in one and another containing $667, according to the report.

Alvarez took the blame for all the contraband found in the Civic, Coello stated in her report.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 6:44 PM.