Volusia deputies find drugs, guns in raid of apartment near DeLand middle school

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A DeLand man was arrested Wednesday, accused of selling drugs out of his apartment where his three kids also lived.

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Detectives with the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force arrested 35-year-old Montrell Brundidge after a 6 a.m. raid at his apartment on New Hampshire Ave., directly across the street from DeLand Middle School.

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According to the sheriff’s office, detectives executing a search warrant on the apartment found approximately 3,500 Xanax pills, 700 MDMA pills, crack cocaine, 19 pounds of marijuana, and an assortment of other prescription drugs.

Detectives also found four guns and more than $1,300 in cash. According to the sheriff’s office, one of the guns was found  on a couch where the children were sitting.

Deputies say the children, aged nine to 13, also told investigators Brundidge sold drugs from the apartment while they were there, and that they’d asked him repeatedly to stop.

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“This arrest saved lives, and I just hope that today these kids will be able to focus on being kids,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. “They should be focusing on school, friends and activities, not worrying about what their drug-dealing dad has in store for them next.”

Brundidge faces a list of charges that includes trafficking drugs with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, three counts of child neglect, and four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

He’s being held in the Volusia County jail on $525,000.

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There were no injuries reported in the raid on Brundidge’s apartment.

The children were released to their grandmother.

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