Man on probation for selling drugs arrested for selling drugs

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brian Lamont Davis, 45, was arrested yesterday for allegedly selling drugs near Food Max; he is on probation in two 2025 cases after entering a plea of nolo contendere to selling drugs.

At about 7:45 p.m. on August 28, Gainesville Police Department officers were patrolling in the area of Food Max (1304 E. University Avenue), which has “an extensive history of violent crimes and open-air narcotics sales.”

Officers reportedly saw Davis making multiple hand-to-hand transactions; in three of those transactions, Davis reportedly received cash from an unidentified man, put the cash in his pocket, and gave the man two or three pills from a bag.

An officer approached Davis and noted that he had a half-smoked marijuana “blunt” behind his ear, and he smelled of freshly-smoked marijuana; he was also “visibly shaking.”

Davis reportedly said he had a medical marijuana card, and he gave the officer a plastic bag containing about 9.4 grams of marijuana. However, the officer reported that while Davis has a valid medical marijuana card, the bag was not labeled as prescription medical marijuana.

Based on the observed hand-to-hand transactions, the officer conducted a probable-cause search of Davis’s person and reportedly found about 3.1 grams of marijuana in a bag in his pocket. When officers attempted to place Davis in handcuffs, he allegedly tensed up, tried to pull away, and reached toward his underwear.

After Davis was placed in handcuffs, a search incident to arrest reportedly produced a bag that had been tucked into his underwear, containing about 55 ecstasy tablets and about 2.6 grams of crack cocaine.

Post Miranda, Davis reportedly said he uses drugs but does not sell them, and he said he did not know there were any narcotics on his person.

The officer noted that ecstasy/MDMA users typically only purchase a few tablets at a time, and a crack cocaine user typically has a crack pipe, but Davis did not have a crack pipe, and he had a large number of ecstasy tablets; he was also allegedly observed conducting hand-to-hand transactions.

Davis has been charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, and resisting an officer without violence. He has 17 felony convictions (non-violent) and 12 misdemeanor convictions (non-violent) and has served five state prison sentences, with his most recent release in January 2025. He is on probation in two cases for selling drugs; he was arrested in March 2026 for selling drugs, but those charges were later dropped, with FDLE sealing the records in that case a few days later. His probation officer filed a violation of probation report after the arrest, but the affidavit was dismissed after the charges were dropped.

Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard set bail at $65,000 on the new charges and ordered him held without bail until the probation violation case is resolved.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.