EUSTIS, Florida—The man accused of dumping gunpowder in a fire that caused an explosion that severely burned his 3-year-old son has been arrested for trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine—on his birthday and just two days after bonding out on the aggravated child abuse charge.
Walter Jonathan Falen, 31, along with his passenger, Veronica Lynn Guerra, 30, were pulled over late Monday night for a faulty brake light, according to an arrest affidavit. An EPD officer recognized Falen and knew he did not have a license. Falen, who was very nervous and admitted he did not have a license, denied anything illegal was in the vehicle, but later said he had a “marijuana bowl (pipe) as he was escorted to an officer’s car.
EPD K9 Mya and her handler, arrived to perform an open-air sniff on the vehicle and she alerted to the passenger side, where Guerra was sitting, according to the affidavit. Police searched the vehicle and found a clear capsule with a crystallized substance in Guerra’s purse, that later tested positive as MDMA, in addition to several large bags of a crystalized substance and a bag containing tan powder. The 327 grams of powder tested positive as fentanyl and the 170 grams of the crystalized substance tested positive as methamphetamine.
Both Falen and Guerra were charged with trafficking in fentanyl and trafficking in methamphetamine. Guerra was also charged with possession of MDMA, she is being held at the Lake County Jail on $52,000 bond and Falen is being held on no bond.
Just last week, Falen was arrested on a warrant for aggravated child abuse for causing an explosion that severely burned his 3-year-old son in December. Falen told police he tried to light a mortar using a sparkler and when he tossed the sparkler into the fire pit, it exploded on him and the tot. The toddler suffered burns to both is his legs and arms and his left cheek and Falen suffered burns to his left arm and leg; both Falen and the child have second and third degree burns and were airlifted to local hospitals, due to their injuries.
A warrant was issued for Falen’s arrest in that incident on Jan. 20, he was arrested Thursday and posted a $50,000 bond Saturday.
