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Stepson's long rap sheet grows
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER -- Arrest No. 24 for the stepson of a circuit judge came at 1:38 a.m. Tuesday at a Crystal River intersection. Michael Gurrola, 41, who was scheduled to appear before a Marion County judge later that day for a status conference on charges of burglary with battery, resisting arrest and aggravated abuse, was pulled over by a Citrus County sheriff's deputy for allegedly running a stop sign. When the deputy checked Gurrola's driving record, he found that the man in the gray Mercedes-Benz was driving with a suspended license, according to an arrest report. Gurrola, the stepson of Circuit Judge Barbara Gurrola, was sent to the Citrus County jail, where his bail was set at $500. Gurrola has a long history of run-ins with the law. He has been arrested 24 times since 1984. In June, his stepmother won a legal protective order against him, barring him from coming within 500 feet of her. According to his latest arrest report, Gurrola failed to stop at NE 10th Avenue and Third Street. Deputy Maurice McDaniel said he saw Gurrola try to trade places with his passenger after he was pulled over. Gurrola told the deputy his passenger -- longtime girlfriend Patricia Fletcher -- was sick and they were driving to the hospital. He also admitted that his license had been suspended, McDaniel wrote. The deputy then asked Fletcher if he could search her purse. She handed it to him and said, "Go ahead," according to the arrest report. McDaniel found a plastic bag filled with white powder, believed to be cocaine, and a metal screen, which he said was a filter for a crack cocaine pipe. Fletcher was arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Fletcher told McDaniel she and Gurrola had tried to buy cocaine earlier in the evening but their source wasn't at home, according to the arrest report. "She also admitted to smoking cocaine . . . prior to the incident," McDaniel wrote. -- Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com.
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