Man Allegedly Uses Marker to Fake Vehicle Tag, Then Arrested for Meth Possession

A man was arrested in west Flagler County for a bizarre combination of alleged crimes including meth possession and altering his vehicle tag with a permanent marker. 35-year-old Edgardo Cruz is in jail on three misdemeanor and one felony charge following the Wednesday traffic stop.

The incident began when a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy pulled Cruz over for reportedly driving 70 miles per hour in a 60 zone on SR-11 in his Honda Civic. During the traffic stop, he’s said to have noticed that the registration tag on Cruz’s license plate had been drawn over with a permanent marker to make it appear up-to-date. According to the FCSO’s statement, Cruz said he didn’t have a valid Florida driver’s license because he’d just moved from California.

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Upon running Cruz’s information through the system, the deputy found that Cruz had been subject to a suspended license in Florida four times since 2021, and that there was no record of him ever having a driver’s license in California. Beyond that, the tag on his vehicle was apparently registered to a 1995 Chevrolet pickup truck, very much not the same vehicle as Cruz’s Civic.

ⓒ Flagler County Sheriff’s Office

Confronted with this, Cruz is said to have confessed to stealing the license plate from a friend’s truck to put on the Civic, which had never been registered before in its existence. Cruz was placed under arrest for driving with a suspended license and operating an unregistered motor vehicle. As he was being taken into custody, the deputy reportedly looked into Cruz’s glove box and discovered a small glass jar with a crystal-like substance. It was tested and came back positive as 3.4 grams of methamphetamine.

In addition to the initial driving charges, Cruz has now also been charged with possession of drug paraphernalia or equipment, a misdemeanor, and possession of methamphetamine, a felony. As of Friday afternoon he’s still being held at the county jail on $4,000 bond. His residence is listed as being on US-17 in De Leon Springs, but the FCSO stated they discovered a Mexican passport in his glove box along with the methamphetamine.