After mix-up, judge postpones hearing of accused drug dealer

A judge ordered but then overturned the arrest of a Tampa resident who was caught by police with 28 pounds of crystal meth during a traffic stop on Interstate 75 and failed to appear for his arraignment on a drug charge on Thursday.

Cedric Jabbar Lamb, 47, said in a telephone interview that he could not remember his scheduled arraignment in Alachua County District Court. When a reporter asked him why he missed his court hearing, he let loose a string of expletives and blamed a mix-up on the company that helped him post his $105,000 bail last month.

“I just spoke to my sponsor yesterday,” Lamb said, uttering a string of curse words. “I didn't know. Wow.”

Shortly after 10:30 a.m., District Judge James Colaw issued a warrant for Lamb's re-arrest when officers called his case and Lamb was nowhere to be found. By evening, the judge had lifted the new warrant and accepted a written plea of ​​not guilty in the case.

Lamb's bail bond company, Andrae Bryant Bail Bonds LLC, said an employee contacted the judge to tell him there had been a mix-up in court dates. The schedule for Thursday's hearing was entered into the court record for the case on Aug. 27, the same day prosecutors formally charged him with aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine and misdemeanor resisting arrest without the use of violence.

If convicted, Lamb faces at least 15 years in prison for this crime.

Gainesville police said they stopped Lamb on I-75 in August for following too closely to another driver and drifting out of his lane. His girlfriend's three teens — ages 13, 14 and 16 — were in the Ford Expedition SUV.

An officer said he smelled marijuana and searched the SUV while Lamb sat in the back seat of his patrol car and the teens waited in a nearby parking lot. When an officer began searching the back of the SUV, Lamb jumped out of the patrol car and tried to flee, according to police.

Two officers attempted to handcuff Lamb and used pepper spray to subdue him, police reported. During the scuffle, one officer dropped her Taser stun gun, which Lamb held onto until the other officer snatched it from her, police said. Officers handcuffed him and took him back to the patrol car.

Inside the SUV, they found a black suitcase containing four sealed bags of crystal meth – weighing just over 28 pounds. Police estimated the street value of the drugs at over $50,000. A typical dose is one to several grams. Police said they found 12,722 grams in Lamb's SUV.

Police are still investigating where Lamb took the drugs and who provided them to him.

Lamb's next court hearing is October 17.

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