A 45-year-old Daytona Beach woman's overnight drive up Interstate 95 ended in handcuffs early Sunday after Flagler County deputies say she was behind the wheel of a stolen car with a bag of methamphetamine tucked under her sports bra. Suntisha Leann Cochrane was arrested shortly after midnight near mile marker 289 in Palm Coast, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
The stop began as a routine license check. Deputies pulled the vehicle over after an alert flagged its registered owner's driver's license as suspended, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. But Cochrane, not the registered owner, was behind the wheel, and once deputies started digging, the story got more complicated. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said deputies ultimately determined the vehicle was stolen and that Cochrane possessed methamphetamine, according to the Tampa Free Press. That alert may have come courtesy of the county's automated license plate reader network, which the Flagler County Sheriff's Office equipped its patrol fleet with in 2023, according to the Atlas of Surveillance, allowing patrol units along I-95 to automatically flag passing vehicles tied to suspended licenses.
A Car She Was Never Supposed To Have
According to investigators, Cochrane told deputies she was driving out of Florida on her way to Tennessee. She admitted she was not supposed to have the car, per the same account. The vehicle's registered owner told the sheriff's office that Cochrane had received permission to borrow the car earlier in the week but never returned it, and that the owner had already tried to report the vehicle stolen in Volusia County before deputies caught up with it on I-95.
The registered owner told investigators they wished to press charges. During the stop, deputies also noticed an unnatural bulge under Cochrane's sports bra, and a search turned up a plastic bag filled with methamphetamine hidden there, per the sheriff's account relayed to the Tampa Free Press.
Charges And A $4,500 Bond
Cochrane now faces charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of methamphetamine, and driving with a suspended license. Official inmate records show she was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility at 1:52 a.m. Sunday, with individual bonds set at $1,500 for grand theft, $2,500 for the drug charge, and $500 for driving on a suspended license, according to Recently Booked, bringing her total bond to $4,500. Booking records list her as 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 150 pounds.
Under Florida Statute § 812.014(2)(c)(6), theft of any motor vehicle is automatically classified as grand theft of the third degree regardless of the car's value, carrying up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine, according to Demmery Law. Whether that charge sticks may hinge on proving Cochrane intended to permanently deprive the owner of the car, a legal threshold that is separate from her own account of simply not returning it on time.
The methamphetamine charge carries its own weight. Under Florida Statute § 893.13(6)(a), possessing less than 14 grams of methamphetamine without a prescription is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and an automatic one-year driver's license revocation, per Goldman Wetzel. Separately, Florida Statute § 322.34 allows driving with a suspended or revoked license to be prosecuted as anything from a moving violation to a felony, depending on whether the driver knew about the suspension and their prior driving record, according to Longwell Lawyers.
A Lengthy Arrest History
Cochrane's record stretches well beyond this weekend. She has roughly a dozen prior arrests spanning three states, with past charges including violation of probation, reckless driving, burglary, assault, offering to commit prostitution, DUI, possession of a controlled substance, and petit theft.
Her arrest came during the same weekend enforcement push that also netted 62-year-old Palm Coast resident Jody Silvernell, arrested for methamphetamine possession following a stop tied to a December 2025 hit-and-run warrant, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
The Tech Behind The Bust
The stop fits a broader pattern for Flagler County, which leans on its Real Time Crime Center and automated technology along the I-95 corridor to intercept stolen vehicles and illicit drugs moving between Volusia and Duval counties, according to News4JAX. Sheriff Staly has long branded the county jail the “Green Roof Inn,” a nickname he adopted along with mock neon signage outside the facility in 2018 as a tongue-in-cheek warning to would-be offenders, according to FlaglerLive. Beyond the branding, the facility also runs the STRIDE program, offering inmates addiction treatment, vocational training, and diploma courses alongside their incarceration.
