Cache Of Illegal Weapons Found By Polk Deputies During Traffic Stop

LAKELAND, FL — Polk County sheriff's deputies assisting the Florida Highway Patrol with a traffic stop uncovered a cache of illegally altered weapons, leading to the arrest of two people, said the sheriff's office.

On Thursday around 6:25 a.m., a trooper stopped a 1985 blue Chevrolet truck on Kathleen Road near Laurel Woods Lane because it had no license plate displayed, according to the sheriff.

When the trooper approached the driver, 27-year-old Samuel Timothy Doolin of Lakeland, and his passenger, 23-year-old Tiffany Ann Beam of Lakeland, the trooper said Doolin refused multiple requests to identify himself and to exit the truck.

The trooper said he noticed a handgun on the seat between the couple and asked about it. He said Doolin told him it was "for his protection against law enforcement."

Concerned for his personal safety, the trooper returned to his patrol vehicle and requested backup. When Polk deputies arrived, they ordered the couple out of the truck a number of times but said both refused. The deputies then approached the truck using a ballistic shield to protect themselves and ordered the couple out of the truck again, but they remained in the truck, according to the sheriff's report.

Finally, deputies broke the back window of the truck and a taser was used to place Doolin in custody. Beam offered no resistance after that, the sheriff's office said.

During an inventory of the truck, deputies discovered five firearms including a Glock 9mm handgun, which had been altered from a semi-automatic to an automatic, and a rifle that was also altered to operate as an automatic weapon and was equipped with a 14-inch barrel. Federal law requires a barrel length of a rifle to be no less than 16 inches. The rifle also had no identifiable model or serial number, deputies said.

Doolin was arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a fully automatic firearm, possession of a short-barrel rifle, possession of a firearm with an altered or removed serial number, carrying a concealed firearm and resisting arrest without violence.

Beam was charged with resisting arrest without violence.

The Florida Highway Patrol also charged Doolin with resisting with violence and cited him for not displaying a proper tag, having an expired registration, failure to show proof of insurance, failure to show identification and failing to provide vehicle registration.

"Samuel Doolin thinks he's above the law. He doesn't like to obey the same laws that every one of us abides by from simple traffic laws to more serious crimes of illegal firearms," Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference. "We don't know what he planned to do with those firearms, but we know he won't be getting them back."