EUSTIS, Florida—A Eustis man was arrested by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Saturday morning for possessing a gopher tortoise—a threatened wildlife species— he was keeping in a five-gallon bucket, according to an arrest affidavit.
FWC received a call that a person on McDonald Street in Eustis was in possession of a possible gopher tortoise. An FWC officer responded to the apartment and Edrick L. Acres, 53, admitted he had the tortoise and showed the officer a five-gallon bucket that contained the tortoise, the affidavit states.
FWC took possession of the tortoise to return it to the wild and told Acres stay seated in a chair he was sitting in while the officer finished his paperwork in his truck. When the officer returned, Acres was gone. His mother said he went to a nearby store and FWC, with the assistance of Eustis Police Department, apprehended Acres about a block away on Clifford Avenue.
Acres was taken into custody, searched and found with a small bag of marijuana. He was arrested for possession of marijuana, possession of a gopher tortoise and resisting arrest. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $2,500 bond.
