[420 Girl]

More than 800 pounds of marijuana nestled among a load of cantaloupes was discovered inside a truck Thursday at a Marion County weigh station on Interstate 75, according to officials.

The truck's driver, Richard Garfield Coulton, was arrested by Department of Transportation officials and charged with trafficking marijuana.

A handcuffed Coulton, dressed in a red-and-white jail outfit, appeared via video link before County Judge Robert Hodges on Friday from the Marion County Jail.

On the arrest affidavit, bail for the 31-year-old Orlando man, who is originally from Jamaica, was set at $500,000. Assistant Public Defender Samantha Shealy asked the judge to reduce the amount - which Hodges did, to $50,000.

Coulton told the judge he makes $600 a week.

Asked about any prior record, Coulton told the judge he had been arrested for receiving stolen goods, but the charge was later dismissed.

Coulton told the Star-Banner he did not know anything about the marijuana, and that no one had access to the truck.

"I was shocked" when authorities discovered the drug, he said.

Coulton said he had left Arizona and was on his way to Miami when the truck's brakes began to falter, which caused a tire blowout on Interstate 10. He said an FDOT official - who was nearby when he stopped the vehicle - was hit in the face with a small piece of tire.

He said he gave the FDOT official his driver's license and other documents. He then fixed the tire problem and continued his journey.

While driving through Marion County on I-75, Coulton said, FDOT officials pulled him over and said he did not provide them with any paperwork on the previous stop.

The truck, from Starcom Logistics Inc. out of Orlando, was then taken to the weigh station to be examined.

An FDOT official, who noted in his report that Coulton was acting in a strange manner, asked permission to search the truck.

Coulton denies that he was behaving strangely.

After receiving permission to search, authorities went inside the trailer. On top of a load of cantaloupes, toward the front, they allegedly found two pallets containing brown paper packages. One was open, exposing a green leafy substance.

A police dog was called to the scene and reportedly indicated a positive response for drugs on the trailer doors and the package. Other packages containing the same substance, which tested positive as marijuana, also were found.

The trailer then was taken to the Marion County Sheriff's Office and was off-loaded. Each box of melons was inspected by an X-ray machine, though none were found to contain drugs.

The marijuana, situated on two pallets, weighed approximately 810 pounds, according to authorities.


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