SUMTER COUNTY, Florida—Three Leesburg residents were seriously injured, a Wildwood man was killed, and two others suffered minor injuries shortly before 10 p.m. Monday in a three-vehicle crash in Sumter County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
An 18-year-old Leesburg man was driving a sedan westbound on County Road 466 when he ran the red light at the intersection of Buena Vista Boulevard, FHP Sgt. Steve Gaskins said in a press release.
The first sedan collided with left side of a second sedan, being driven by a 27-year-old Wildwood man; both vehicles rotated and collided with a traffic sign support and the second sedan collided with the front of an SUV, being driven by a 46-year-old Ocala man.
The Wildwood man in the second sedan was killed and his passenger, a 22-year-old Leesburg woman suffered serious injuries. The driver of the first sedan, and his passenger, both 18-year-old Leesburg men also suffered serious injuries. The driver of the SUV, and his passenger, a 63-year-old Villages woman suffered minor injuries.
The intersection was closed for more than seven hours, according to a Facebook post by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
LEESBURG, Florida—A former employee of an assisted living facility is behind bars on 17 charges after a Leesburg Police Department investigation revealed she was stealing from several residents at the facility, according to a probable cause affidavit.
LPD began investigating in August when the executive director of Vista Assisted Living, 700 South Lake Street, Leesburg, reported a 93-year-old resident was missing a ring from her room. The victim told police Angelique Sinceria Daniels, 24, was assisting her when Daniels told the victim she needed to attend a meeting. The victim left the room but returned shortly after when she found there was no meeting, as Daniels left her room. The woman later realized her ring, valued at $7,000, was missing, the affidavit states. Daniels was fired from the facility for an unrelated policy violation.
Angelique Daniels PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
The responding officer researched Daniels’ name and found three pawn transactions at a pawn shop in Leesburg and visited the shop the following day, where an employee gave the officer a fourth pawn ticket in Daniels’s name. The case was assigned to a detective and in October, the detective went to the pawn shop to get security footage and found that Daniels had pawned yet another item less than a week before.
The detective continued investigating and was able to locate three other victims whose jewelry was pawned by Daniels, according to the affidavit. A warrant was issued for Daniels’ arrest Nov. 22 for four counts of theft from a person 65 or older, four counts of false information to a pawnbroker, four counts of dealing in stolen property and one count of scheme to defraud. She was picked by LPD Monday and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she is being held on $53,000 bond.
LEESBURG, Florida—A verbal dispute that turned physical landed a woman in jail Sunday after Leesburg Police responded to an apartment of a report of a weapon, according to an arrest affidavit.
When LPD arrived at the apartment on Sennett Drive, officers heard screaming and found a door ajar. They entered the open door and “observed multiple subjects in an altercation with blood all over the floor,” the affidavit states.
The subjects, Davonna Loren Jones, 56, her son, and the victim and her daughter, were detained and separated by LPD. The victim told police she arrived at the apartment to pick up her daughter and an argument ensued between her and Jones. She said Jones pushed her and then picked up a knife and began pressing it against the victim’s chest. The victim’s daughter, who was interviewed separately, backed up her mom’s story to police.
The victim called for help and Jones waved the knife towards her daughter and threw a Seagram’s bottle at the victim’s head, she told police. The victim snatched Jones by the hair and Jones grabbed a wrench that the victim was able to take from Jones and then the victim went to the bathroom to get a towel to clean up the blood, she told police.
The victim suffered multiple small lacerations to her chest, a larger laceration to her head, and was covered in blood, in addition to the floor and walls of the entryway being covered in blood, the affidavit states. Small clumps of Jones’ hair and her jewelry were found on the blood-covered floor, the arresting officer noted.
The victim was transported to UF Health Leesburg and Jones was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Jones was transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $10,000 bond.
LADY LAKE, Florida—A Leesburg man has been arrested in the overdose death of a 38-year-old man in Lady Lake over the summer, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Albert Robert Springs, 33, was taken into custody Wednesday after an investigation revealed Springs dealt Harry Cooper the lethal fentanyl that killed him on June 25. Cooper was found dead in a bedroom at a home at 4100 Holly Hill and the medical examiner’s office ruled his death an accidental overdose of fentanyl, LCSO Lt. John Herrell said.
“Detectives worked diligently throughout the course of this investigation,” Herrell said. Phone records and surveillance video helped detectives determine Springs was responsible for dealing the fentanyl to Cooper.
Springs was arrested for death by unlawful distribution of fentanyl and is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.
LEESBURG, Florida—A Leesburg man put in some work to break into a local Publix early Saturday, according to an arrest affidavit.
Edward Lee Brown, 61, was caught red-handed inside Publix, 717 North 14th Street, Leesburg shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday by Leesburg Police with a backpack full of loot that included 35 packs of Newport cigarettes and 39 Black and Mild cigars, along with other tobacco products valued at more than $500, according to the affidavit. LPD also found a crack pipe in Brown’s backpack.
LPD responded to the popular grocery store after a caller reported seeing Brown breaking into the back door of the store with a pallet jack. When officers arrived, they found Brown inside a rear office in the store with his loot, according to the affidavit.
Edward Lee Brown PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
LPD reviewed surveillance footage while on the scene and it showed Brown utilizing a manual pallet jack to pry open the back door from the bottom. Brown is then seen crawling through the opening, entering the store and placing the stolen tobacco in his backpack, the affidavit states.
Brown was arrested for burglary, petit theft (two prior convictions) and possession of drug equipment. He was taken to LPD for processing and later to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on $13,000 bond.
Tiffany Khoudali got quite the surprise as she made her way home from a tea party with her daughter Sunday afternoon when she saw a naked woman riding a motorcycle, she told Inside Lake.
At 5:59 p.m. as Khoudali drove northbound on U.S. Highway 441 near Buzzard Beach, she spotted a woman on a motorcycle. As they approached County Road 473, she first thought the woman was wearing flesh-colored leggings, “So I sped up a little,” she looked over, “And…she’s naked,” she told Inside Lake.
She quickly snapped a photo, because she knew no one would believe her, she said, and her son, Malik, a senior in high school, whipped out his phone and posted a video to Snapchat, she said.
Khoudali did not say anything to the woman, “She was looking straight ahead, not paying attention to anybody.” As the woman approached the red light at U.S. Highway 441 and County Road 473, she braked and allowed two cars to turn left onto County Road 473, but ran the light after that, Khoudali said. She was not wearing a helmet. “Not that I would ever put myself in that situation,” Khoudali said, “but if I was naked, I wouldn’t stop at traffic lights either.”
Khoudali posted to the popular Facebook group Leesburg’s Word Of Mouth and at press time the post had garnered more than 700 comments. Many made jokes and speculated why the woman was riding naked. Malik’s Snapchat video was set to music by an unrelated person and posted to another popular app, TikTok and shared hundreds of times.
Inside Lake reached out to surrounding law enforcement agencies Monday to inquire if the woman was spotted or arrested. Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. John Herrell said LCSO responded to a home in Altoona around 10 a.m. Sunday on a report a woman was drunk. When they arrived, she did not meet the criteria for a Baker Act and the complainant was given information on how to obtain an order for a mental health evaluation, Herrell said.
Inside Lake has identified the 49-year-old woman but we are not releasing her name because Sunday’s incident may have been a mental health issue. She was released on her own recognizance from the Lake County in July after being in jail for six week for possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence; she is currently in the pre-trial intervention program for those charges.
Tavares Police Public Information Officer Courtney Sullivan said her agency first became involved when they received a call from AdventHealth Waterman shortly before 5 p.m. The caller reported the woman came into the hospital wearing only a shirt that did not cover her nether region and was saying things that did not make sense. She was given paper scrub pants and left the hospital against medical advice, Sullivan said.
Janet Dickey Smith was at AdventHealth Waterman when the woman left. “She was barefoot (and) had a blanket wrapped around her. She got on the Harley and three security guards were following her,” she told Inside Lake. One security was on the phone and taking down her tag number, she said.
TPD began looking for her, but officers were unsuccessful, Sullivan told Inside Lake. TPD also received a call from Eustis Police Department around 6 p.m. stating the woman was riding naked on Lake Eustis Drive near Ann Rou Road; attempts to locate her were still unsuccessful.
She was eventually stopped near Gator Harley-Davidson on U.S. Highway 441 by LCSO shortly after 6 p.m. and transported by Lake EMS to a local hospital.
LEESBURG, Florida—The driver who rear-ended a man, causing a chain-reaction crash Monday morning that killed the man, does not have a license, the Florida Highway Patrol said following the crash.
Around 7:20 a.m. Monday, Gustavo Martinez Cortez, 36, of Eustis was driving a 2003 Chevy Silverado southbound on County Road 44 when he failed to stop for a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was stopped in the southbound lane, waiting to turn on Silver Lake Road, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said.
The Silverado struck the Corolla, being driven by a 42-year-old Eustis man, and pushed it into the northbound lane, causing the front of a tractor-trailer to collide with the right side of the Corolla. The Corolla rotated, reentered the southbound lane, and struck a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage head-on. The crash partially ejected the driver of the Corolla, and he was pronounced dead on the scene.
The driver of the Mirage, a 23-year-old DeLand woman was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 69-year-old Avon Park man, and Cortez were not injured, Crescenzi said. The crash shut down County Road 44 for most of the day Monday.
Cortez was arrested for driving without a license and causing death; he is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.
LEESBURG, Florida—A fatal crash involving four vehicles has closed County Road 44 at Silver Lake Road in unincorporated Leesburg Monday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The crash occurred around 7:20 a.m. Monday and killed a 42-year-old man from Eustis driving a 2004 Toyota Corolla, said FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi.
A 23-year-old DeLand woman driving a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, Crescenzi said; a Eustis man, 36, driving a 2004 Chevy Silverado and a 69-year-old Avon Park man driving a 2021 tractor trailer were not injured.
LEESBURG, Florida—A motorcyclist was killed late Saturday night after he was thrown from his motorcycle in one crash and then struck by his motorcycle after a second vehicle hit it and propelled into him and a good Samaritan near Leesburg, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 57-year-old Leesburg man was riding a 2016 Harley Davidson Street Glide in the inside lane northbound on County Road 473 approaching California Street when a 2004 Toyota Tacoma traveling southbound on County Road 473, attempted to make a left turn into a gas station parking lot and struck the motorcycle. The motorcyclist was thrown from the bike, and it came to a final rest in the northbound inside lane of County Road 473 according to FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi.
A good Samaritan, a 51-year-old Leesburg woman, stopped to assist the motorcyclist, and they were both standing in the northbound lanes of County Road 473. A 2003 Buick Century, being driven by a 30-year-old Leesburg woman, collided with the motorcycle and propelled it into the motorcyclist and the good Samaritan, Crescenzi said.
The motorcyclist was pronounced dead on the scene, shortly before 10:30 p.m. and the good Samaritan was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. The driver of the Tacoma, a 59-year-old Leesburg man, and the driver of the Century were not injured.
Operation Aware will provide wristbands and a database for first responders and the special needs community.
TAVARES, Florida—Two law enforcement agencies have joined forces to provide a new tool to the community that will give first responders valuable information when responding to calls for service in the special needs community.
Nearly a year in the making, Tavares Police Department began its Operation Aware initiative in November 2021 and has since teamed up with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to provide wristbands to members of the community that may require a different response from law enforcement.
“We are big on community policing,” TPD Public Information Officer Courtney Sullivan told Inside Lake last year. “There are always ways we can be better,” she said, “and there are always opportunities for the community to teach us how to better serve them.”
Operation Aware is a “total approach” to the issues facing the special needs community and will provide education, outreach and follow up,” Sullivan said.
Newly-appointed Tavares Police Chief Sarah Coursey worked with Sullivan to get this program up and running. “Operation Aware is near and dear to my heart; it gives us the opportunity to serve our community in a unique way when our response requires a different approach,” Coursey told Inside Lake.
The wristbands are available for community members who have intellectual and developmental disorders, including, but not limited to, autism, dementia. PTSD and Alzheimer’s, according to Sullivan. Loved ones and caregivers are encouraged to reach out to TPD or LCSO and register special needs individuals to get them a wristband and enter them into the database.
The bright blue wristbands will immediately let law enforcement officers know they are interacting with an individual with special needs, and provide them with vital information including names, addresses, emergency contacts and medical conditions. Officers and dispatchers will have access to the information and individual addresses will be flagged so the officer is aware of any special circumstances before they arrive to the call. Officers will know if the individual is non-verbal, has a sensitivity to lights and sirens and any other pertinent information that would be helpful to officers. They will also help reunification by giving officers and deputies information immediately that can be shared with media outlets and on social media, Sullivan said.
The wristbands will also be a tool for the public; they will have a number and a QR code that can be scanned and will inform the public to call 9-1-1. The wristband never needs to be charged. To register, please visit https://tavares.org/1327/Operation-Aware or https://lcso.org/oa/
