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BRADY DENNISA trio with cocaine in their car mistake a MacDill AFB gate for a highway toll booth.
TAMPA - Carrying cocaine, drug paraphernalia and $1,000 in cash, the three young men in the 1983 Toyota Tercel thought they were entering the toll booth for the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
They tried to blow past it, authorities said, but didn't get far.
It turned out to be the gate to MacDill Air Force Base.
In seconds, they were swarmed by uniformed guards, military vehicles and machine guns.
"They had guards all over it. Machine guns in the windows," said Tampa police Capt. Bob Guidara. "They were surrounded."
In plain view on the car's front seat, according to authorities: rock cocaine.
"They were (messed) up," Guidara said. Any time you try to drive onto a heavily guarded military base thinking it's a highway entrance, he said, "You're playing with a few cards short of a deck."
Arrested in the incident were Matthew Dail, 19, of Ruskin; Simon Joseph, 20, of Apollo Beach; and Jason Sharp, 19, of Gibsonton.
Police officers arrived and searched the car.
Inside, they found about 1.34 ounces of rock cocaine, drug paraphernalia (including a digital scale) and more than $1,000 in cash, police said.
All three men face charges of trafficking in cocaine.
All three remained in Hillsborough County jail Monday night without bail.
And all three have previous criminal records.
State records show Sharp was arrested earlier this year on cocaine possession charges.
Joseph has been arrested three times previously, twice on cocaine and marijuana charges and once on a burglary charge.
Dail also has been arrested three previous times, on such charges as larceny, cocaine and marijuana possession, aggravated battery and armed robbery.
Dail listed Ruskin attorney Paul Carr as his lawyer, but Carr had not heard of the arrest when contacted on Monday.
"I know nothing about it," said Carr, who has represented Dail in the past. "I have not been contacted by Mr. Dail or his family."
Carr described Dail as "a pretty good kid" who once was on his high school wrestling team.
He said Dail has had problems in the past, but that "he's been acquitted in the past."
As serious as Sunday's offense was, even some law enforcement officers couldn't help but smirk at the idea that anyone would mistake a high-profile military outpost for an expressway toll booth.
"See what happens when you ignore a toll," Guidara joked. "That's what can happen."