Two Sheriff’s deputies cruising along U.S. 19 near Homosassa, Florida saw a white Toyota Camry parked in Sunny Days Plaza. Two men were standing next to the car trying to change a flat tire.

The deputies pulled up to the car to help out. The men said they drove from Tampa to meet some acquaintances at the Circle K at U.S. 19 and W Cardinal Street. They weren’t familiar with the area, though, and missed the turn. Now they were stranded in an unfamiliar county with a flat tire.

As the deputies listened to the men’s story, they noticed that one man appeared to be under the influence of some type of drug. The officers asked the men permission to search the car. The men said the car belonged to one of their girlfriends, and they wouldn’t be comfortable with a search. Instead, the officers used a dog to search the outside of the car.

The dog alerted the deputies to the presence of a 25-caliber semiautomatic handgun and a semiautomatic assault rifle in the car. The officers also found a small amount of marijuana in the car, according to a sheriff’s report.

The officers arrested both men on charges of possession of marijuana and took them to the nearby Homosassa sheriff’s substation for more questioning. There, the men told the deputies they planned to drive to Citrus to rob a drug dealer. They said they were short on money and had a lot of bills to pay, so they figured they would rob a Homosassa man they knew who had a lot of narcotics and cash. They planned to meet the man at the Circle K, but they couldn’t find it and then got a flat tire.

Both men will face federal firearms charges from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.