LEESBURG, Florida—A Eustis man is facing a felony criminal mischief charge after admitting he painted a heart on the parking lot of a Leesburg bar, according to an arrest affidavit.
Timothy Scott Bombard, 36, was captured on video painting a white heart on the parking lot of Dirty South Saloon, 1850 U.S. Highway 441, Leesburg on June 16 and he was easily identified because he had previously applied for a job at the bar, the manager told a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy. Bombard apparently asked if the bar would keep a heart that was already painted there after the bar resealed and repainted the parking lot, the affidavit states.
The manager told Bombard they would not be keeping the heart and Bombard reportedly said he would come back and do it anyway, the manager told LCSO. Bombard also sent a text message to the manager’s boyfriend admitting he painted the heart and knew he could go to jail for it.
On Wednesday, Bombard went to the sheriff’s office and told an LCSO detective he did paint the large white heart on the parking lot in remembrance of someone who died in that spot, according to the affidavit.
Bombard was arrested for criminal mischief and walked over to the Lake County Jail, where he was later released on $2,000 bond.
MOUNT DORA, Florida—Two people are in the Lake County Jail following a tussle with Mount Dora Police Department and a multi-agency pursuit across Lake County Friday.
Shortly after midnight, MDPD responded to Perkins, 17080 U.S. Highway 441, Mount Dora on a report of a verbal argument. Officers found a black Ford F-150 with two occupants inside and identified the pair as Larissa Molina, 22 of Franklin, North Carolina and Adrian Delgado, 22, of Kissimmee. Officers ran the VIN of the truck and found it was possibly stolen out of Orange County, according to Delgado’s arrest affidavit.
Delgado apparently had a tire iron in his hands and MDPD tried to take him into custody; details in the affidavit are very limited and it is unclear when Delgado armed himself with the tire iron. Delgado tried to get away and kept “slipping out” of an MDPD’s officer’s grip and another officer tased Delgado, striking him in the back. Delgado then fled northbound toward U.S. Highway 441 on foot, the affidavit states.
He ran west toward the Walmart parking lot nearby and was finally apprehended in the parking lot of First National Bank at the corner of Eudora Road and U.S. Highway 441. Delgado reportedly said he was scared because he was homeless and kept asking about Molina, the affidavit states.
He was placed in the back of a patrol unit, where he vomited and was taken to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, where he was medically cleared and then transported to the Lake County Jail.
While Delgado was fleeing on foot, Molina fled in the stolen truck and MDPD attempted to stop her but was not successful. A Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy was in the area of Perkins when he heard unintelligible radio traffic but “sounded in distress,” he noted in Molina’s arrest affidavit.
“I began responding to the call when I was informed a black F-150 had struck one of the officers in an attempt to get away and was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 441,” the deputy stated in the affidavit.
Molina, however, is not facing a charge of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, which would be standard if she struck the MDPD officer as she was fleeing.
The deputy spotted the truck at U.S. Highway 441 and Spring Harbor Boulevard and attempted to perform a traffic stop. Molina continued to flee northbound on U.S. Highway 441, making several U-turns, failed to yield to oncoming traffic and reached speeds over more than 100 miles per hour, the affidavit states.
Multiple agencies assisted including Eustis Police Department, Tavares Police Department and Fruitland Park Police Department; LCSO never lost sight of the truck as it traveled across the county. FPPD deployed stop sticks at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the truck struck them and continued to flee before coming to a final stop at Lagrande Boulevard and U.S. Highway 27 in The Villages. Molina was then taken into custody, according to the affidavit.
The pair is facing multiple charges; Molina was arrested for fleeing and eluding, no driver license, grand theft auto, resisting an officer without violence and loitering or prowling. She is being held on $14,000 bond. Delgado is facing charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, grand theft auto and loitering or prowling; he is being held on $13,500 bond.
EUSTIS, Florida—Three teens, who are documented gang members and well-known to local law enforcement were arrested again last week, this time for burglarizing vehicles, according to several arrest affidavits.
On May 30, Eustis Police Department responded to a call about three suspicious males in black hoodies and masks on Beaumont Lane in the Arbor Hills neighborhood and found three males matching the description in the area of Waycross Avenue and Abrams Road around 3:30 a.m.
The trio, later identified as Gyrice Trayvon Foster, 18, Kristine Morell Morris, 15, and Artavious Jamarr Williams, 17, all of Eustis, tried to run but complied when an officer ordered them to the ground with his taser. The trio was searched and a wallet belonging to a victim on Gables Drive in the 44 Gables neighborhood was found on Morris, according to the affidavit.
Video surveillance later showed the teens entering another vehicle on Gables Drive and all three were wearing black latex gloves that were taken into evidence. At the time of the crime, Morris was also wanted for armed robbery and was taken into custody on a juvenile pickup order, along with his new crimes. Morris is also on probation and was equipped with a GPS ankle monitor when he was taken into custody. All three teens have prior convictions for theft, the affidavit states.
In the robbery case, Morris is accused of setting up a man who was trying to mentor him after he withdrew money from an ATM in downtown Eustis on Halloween 2022. The man picked Morris up and when he stopped at the ATM, Morris was chatting with, another documented gang member, who Inside Lake is not naming because he has not been charged with a crime. Morris asked the victim to pick that teen up at a home in Orange County and then they returned to Eustis, where they picked up a documented gang member, and then traveled to Lake Harris Cove Apartments in Leesburg, the site of another unrelated shooting late last month.
When they arrived at Lake Harris Cove, they picked up another male. Inside Lake is also not identifying that male because he has not yet been charged in the robbery incident. They drove back to Orange County and the victim thought one of the teens was picking up some clothes, but when he tried to reenter the vehicle, he was armed with a large rifle and the victim told him not to bring the rifle and he stayed in Orange County, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The group returned to Eustis and were in the area of Briarcliff Avenue and South Street where they picked up an unknown male. The victim exited the black GMC he was driving to “dap them up,” and the unknown male pushed away from the victim and drew a gun from his waistband and pointed at the victim and reportedly said, “Run your (expletive,)” which means “empty your pockets,” the victim told police. The victim was then robbed for the $200 he withdrew from the ATM earlier in the day, and all the teens fled the scene, the affidavit states.
Cell phone records and Instagram messages later backed up the victim’s story. The teens are documented members of “4wayy” a gang believed to be responsible for multiple shootings, grand theft auto reports and burglaries in Eustis.
The teens were all charged with burglary and petit theft in the May 30 Eustis vehicle burglaries.
LEESBURG, Florida—A man arrested, but never convicted, numerous times for a variety of offenses including vehicular manslaughter, witness tampering, trafficking in drugs and battery on a pregnant female in both Orange County and Lake County, has been arrested yet again, this time for trafficking in fentanyl, according to an arrest affidavit.
Emmanuel Cazeau, 39, of Eustis, was pulled over early Friday morning by Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies for a minor traffic offense as he pulled out of Circle K, at the corner of County Road 44 and County Road 473 in unincorporated Leesburg, according to an arrest affidavit.
Deputies asked for consent to search Cazeau’s vehicle, which he denied, and K9 Jim and his handler performed an open-air sniff on the vehicle. K9 Jim alerted to the odor of narcotics and Cazeau and his passenger were removed from the vehicle. Deputies searched the vehicle and found a small bag of a purple substance weighing 13 grams that field-tested positive for the deadly drug fentanyl, the affidavit states.
PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Cazeau was taken into custody and arrested for trafficking in fentanyl. The arresting deputy requested a heightened bond of $200,000.
“The defendant was found in possession of approximately 13 grams of fentanyl, which carries a 25 year-minimum mandatory (sentence) and a mandatory $500,000 fine. Even a small amount of fentanyl is known to lead to serious bodily injury and/or death; the defendant was in possession of such an excessive amount which is a serious danger to the community of Lake County,” the arresting deputy noted in the affidavit.
Cazeau was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on no bond on the trafficking charge and a bond revocation order.
According to LCSO online booking records, Cazeau has been arrested in Lake County seven times since 2019 for multiple offenses including drug trafficking and felony battery; the charges were dropped in each case, according to Lake County Clerk of Court online records.
LAKE COUNTY, Florida—Several local law enforcement agencies are counting on the public to help them grow their K9 units with a grant from a national biohazard clean-up company.
Five agencies in Lake County are competing for a $2,500 grant that can be used for their K9 units, such as purchasing equipment and other needs for their pups. The grant will be provided by Aftermath Service LLC, a national company that provides biohazard clean-ups from incidents such as crime scenes and unattended deaths.
Eustis Police Department, Fruitland Park Police Department, Lady Lake Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Tavares Police Department are all competing for the cash for their K9S. TPD has not had a K9 officer in nearly 20 years, newly-appointed TPD Chief Sarah Coursey told Inside Lake.
“I saw a need in my community for this essential unit, which will better aid the officers in locating and removing dangerous narcotics from our city and tracking missing or endangered persons,” Coursey said.
Tavares Police Officer Zack Barclay will serve on TPD’s K9 Unit PHOTO: Tavares Police Department
Most agencies have taken to social media to ask for the public’s help getting votes, and TPD has been posting to its popular Facebook page each day since voting began. TPD does not have dogs yet but has already chosen its two officers that will become handlers, Officer Ben Carter and Officer Zack Barclay and have posted their photos on Facebook in hopes of drawing in votes. A quick glance at the comments shows Barclay has been quite popular—especially with the ladies.
“Our Facebook page has always been an excellent source of information when solving crimes; the community has always stepped up to the plate with valuable information and now we are asking them to throw us a bone,” Coursey explained.
TAVARES, Florida—A second man has been arrested in the 2022 murder of a Umatilla man.
Deandre Bernard Anderson, 32, of Leesburg, was booked into the Lake County Jail on a warrant for first degree murder Friday, accused of killing Antwain “Lil Daddy” Hart, 31, on Nov. 8, 2022. Hart was found with at least one gunshot wound in front of a home in the Southside area of unincorporated Umatilla and died during transport to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. John Herrell told Inside Lake last year.
Only Inside Lake was on the scene following the shooting.
Antwain “Lil Daddy” Hart was murdered in Umatilla in 2022. Deputies have arrested two men for his murder and are searching for a third man. PHOTO: Hart Family
Hart’s rental vehicle, a 2022 white Jeep Cherokee, was stolen at the time of his murder and found about 12 hours later behind the First Church of God Eustis, 1550 North Highway 19, by Eustis Police Department. The church is just 3.7 miles from the murder scene.
Earlier this year, Undray Tony Benson, 51, of Orlando, was arrested in Orange County, accused of Hart’s murder after LCSO developed leads in the case, but details of the murder and a motive are unclear because the probable cause affidavit in the case is sealed, according to Lake County Clerk of Court online records.
Anderson and Benson are both being held at LCJ on no bond.
A warrant has been issued for a third man, Marvin Ellison Jr., but he has not been taken into custody. If you have information on Ellison’s whereabouts, call LCSO at 352-343-2101.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Umatilla Police officers investigate after Antwain “Lil” Daddy Hart was found shot Nov. 8, 2022.
EUSTIS, Florida—A man who was apparently stumbling and staggering around a local grocery store and parking lot was busted for DUI Sunday after Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri found him sitting in his car with a bottle of vodka lying next to him.
Capri was in the area Sunday around 8:15 p.m. when he heard a call go out about a possible drunk person stumbling around and trying to leave in a white Dodge Challenger in the Woodland Center plaza, 1930 North State Road 19, which houses Publix, according to an arrest affidavit.
Capri spoke only with Inside Lake about the incident, “Crime doesn’t take a day off, so why should we?’
Capri approached the vehicle and spoke with a man, later identified as Joseph Ciechanowski, 52, who smelled of alcohol. Capri, who was in plain clothes, identified himself as a police officer, and Ciechanowski said Capri was not a police officer and attempted to leave, Capri told Inside Lake.
Capri kept Ciechanowski from leaving until two more EPD officers arrived and when the officers asked for his driver license and registration, he fumbled around while slurring his words, the affidavit states.
Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri
“He was extremely intoxicated; no doubt in my mind he would have killed somebody, or himself,” Capri said.
He refused to exit his car and when EPD opened the door he stumbled out and refused to perform field sobriety exercises. Ciechanowski, of Parrish in Manatee County, was placed under arrest and taken into custody.
Officers spoke with a witness, a manager at Publix, who said Ciechanowski staggered into the men’s restroom at the front of the store and staggered out a short time later. She provided a written statement to officers and Ciechanowski was transported to the Lake County Jail. While at the jail, he refused to provide a breath sample, according to the affidavit.
A check of Ciechanowski’s criminal history revealed a prior arrest for DUI in December 2020 that was eventually pled down to reckless driving, alcohol related on May 21, 2021—exactly two years prior to the incident in Eustis, according to Manatee County Clerk of Court online records.
Ciechanowski is facing three charges in Lake County, including DUI, refusal to submit to a breath test and refusal to sign a criminal citation. He was released Monday morning on $2,000 bond.
EUSTIS, Florida—The woman Tavares Police Department was searching for has been found safe.
Celia Schwinden, 67, was found Tuesday afternoon in downtown Eustis by a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy, TPD Chief Sarah Coursey told Inside Lake.
She was found in good health and is with her family, Coursey said.
TAVARES, Florida—Tavares Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a woman who was last seen at her home in the area of Dora Avenue Saturday.
Celia Schwinden, 67, is known to frequent Tavares, Eustis and Leesburg on foot and may be carrying bags with her. TPD is utilizing the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Real Time Crime Center, bloodhounds and pinged her cellphone with negative results. TPD has also issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) and reached out to surrounding law enforcement agencies, TPD Chief Sarah Coursey told Inside Lake.
“We have all hands on deck,” Coursey said.
Celia Schwinden, 67, is seen here entering her home in the Dora Avenue area Saturday. Tavares Police Department is trying to locate her to check on her well-being.
There has been no activity on Schwinden’s credit or debit cards. She apparently returned to her home Monday and left a note but left her home again. Police did not release what the note said.
“We need to check her well-being,” Coursey said.
TPD officers are canvassing the area and following up on leads, Coursey said, and Schwinden is believed to be wearing the clothing shown in the photos accompanying this article.
If you have information on Schwinden’s whereabouts, call TPD at 352-343-2101 and reference case T23050703.
ALTOONA, Florida—One person was rescued and airlifted for treatment and a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy was transported to the hospital following a structure fire Sunday night, according to Umatilla Fire Department.
Numerous agencies responded to the fire in addition to UFD and LCSO, including Eustis Fire Department, Leesburg Fire Department, Lake County Fire Rescue, Marion County Fire Rescue and Lake EMS, a UFD social media post stated. An exact address for the fire was unavailable at press time, but numerous social media posts and comments said the fire was in the Shockley Heights area.
UFD was first on the scene of the fire that had one person trapped inside. The unidentified person was rescued and airlifted to a local hospital and a deputy was transported to an area hospital to get checked out, according to UFD. The fire was extinguished.
