DEPUTIES: Tattoo-covered car thief smuggles drugs into Marion County Jail

MARION COUNTY, Fla. (WKMG) A 26-year-old man with several tattoos on his face was found with drugs in his possession in the county jail after he was arrested for stealing a vehicle, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies said Robert Hardister was driving a tan Hyundai vehicle in the parking lot of the Queens Garden Resort on South Pine Avenue when he got out and made eye contact with authorities, who determined the vehicle had been stolen out of Putnam County.

After seeing deputies, Hardister took off on foot, until he was later found by a K-9 officer, according to the arrest report.

Deputies said the sergeant who saw him take off recognized him by the tattoos on his face. Hardister was arrested and taken to the jail, where the booking staff found marijuana inside a piece of paper he had with him, authorities said.

Hardister was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, resisting an officer, smuggling contraband into a detention facility and being in possession of marijuana, the report said.