Fort Walton Beach man arrested on cocaine trafficking, child abuse charges

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (WALA) - A routine traffic stop Monday led to the arrest of a Fort Walton Beach area man on charges that include trafficking in cocaine and child abuse, officials said.

According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, deputies stopped a vehicle driven by 48-year-old Don Kenney Brown near North Beal Extension and Schneider Drive after observing a traffic violation.

An OCSO K9 alerted to the presence of narcotics inside the car, officials said, and then deputies found nearly 43 grams of cocaine, oxycodone pills without a prescription and marijuana.

The OCSO said deputies also found a 3-year-old child in the back seat who was not secured in a car seat or wearing a seatbelt and was within arm’s reach of the narcotics.

Officials said Brown was arrested and is charged with trafficking in cocaine, child abuse without great bodily harm, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and resisting an officer without violence.

Brown was taken to the Okaloosa County Jail in Crestview.