Ex-Manatee High standout, now a youth coach, arrested after cops say they found drugs, gun in car

Deputies arrested a Pee Wee football coach and former Manatee High School standout receiver last week after investigators said they found marijuana and a gun in a car he was driving, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Edgard Theliar, 29, was stopped by detectives in the 3100 block of 15th Street East in Bradenton around 4 p.m. Thursday after the vehicle he was driving did not stop for a red light, according to the sheriff’s office.

Detectives in the area conducting surveillance approached the vehicle during the traffic stop and said they noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.

Theliar told detectives he was the head coach of the Manatee Broncos Pee Wee football team and had equipment in the vehicle he needed to give to players.

A narcotics K9 indicated there was odor of drugs and investigators searched the vehicle.

A loaded 9mm gun, “several bags” of marijuana wrapped for individual sale and a “large amount” of cash were found in the vehicle’s center console, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies arrested Theliar on charges of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from jail Friday on a $9,500 bond.

Jail records indicate he was arrested in April 2016 on a DUI charge and in June 2013 for a drug possession charge.

Theliar finished his Manatee High football career in 2006. In 2016, he took some of the players he coached to watch the University of Michigan football team’s spring practice at IMG Academy.