Staff Report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the early hours today, authorities apprehended 24-year-old Antonio Donnell Towns Jr. following the discovery of 125 grams of marijuana during a routine traffic stop.

The incident unfolded around 2:30 a.m. on November 29, when a Gainesville Police Department officer stopped a vehicle for veering over a solid white line and proceeding straight through an intersection despite being in a left-turn-only lane.

Upon approaching the vehicle, the officer reported spotting a 2-gallon bag filled with marijuana visibly resting on the rear floorboard. Additionally, the officer detected a potent aroma of fresh marijuana emanating from the car.

Towns, identified as both the driver and the car’s registered owner, was reportedly unable to provide a medical marijuana card when requested.

Following a probable cause search due to the visible, improperly packaged marijuana, the officer allegedly found two jars, two small baggies, and a large 2-gallon bag of marijuana, amounting to 125.4 grams in total. It was noted that none of the marijuana was contained in official dispensary packaging.

The search also reportedly produced 0.2 grams of “Cannabis THC butter” in a dispensary container, 47 bills of mixed denominations totaling $293, a box of empty baggies, a scale, and two packs of rolling papers.

Post Miranda, Towns reportedly said all the marijuana belonged to him and admitted to smoking weed earlier in the day and smoking in the car. He said, however, that the cash was not his. He said all of the marijuana was for his personal use and denied any intent to sell it.

Towns reportedly said he had purchased the marijuana from a dispensary and moved it to plastic baggies so it would not stink up his car, but he could not explain why he had brought so much marijuana with him in his car. When he was asked which dispensary he purchased from, he reportedly refused to answer any more questions.

Towns has been charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a college campus (he was pulled over in the parking lot of UF’s east campus on Waldo Road), maintaining a vehicle for the purpose of selling drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He has five felony convictions and one misdemeanor conviction; he has served one prison sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and unlawfully concealing a firearm and was released in April 2025, and he is on probation until April 2027. Judge Adam Lee set bail at $115,000 on the new charges and ordered him held without bail until the probation violation is resolved.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.