Mount Dora

MOUNT DORA, Florida—The teenager who fled Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Mount Dora Police Officers before firing shots at them on Donnelly Street is a person of interest in the disappearance of his father, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO.) VSO was searching for Johnny Santiago, 18, after receiving a call from Santiago’s mother, who was in New York, shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday. The woman said she was on the phone with her husband, Juan Santiago, 52, when she heard him arguing with Johnny. She heard a loud noise and the phone disconnected. She has not spoken

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A 18-year-old suspect wanted by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office was shot at least once by law enforcement Monday after shooting at them, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The suspect’s truck was spotted by Eagle One, LCSO’s helicopter, after LCSO received information the suspect may be in Lake County, LCSO Lt. John Herrell said. “We were looking for that vehicle,” Herrell said. According to a social media post by Volusia Sheriff’s Office, a white Ford F-150 related to a suspicious incident in Deltona fled from both Volusia County and Seminole County deputies Monday morning. The Deltona man

MOUNT DORA, Florida—Mount Dora Police Department has arrested two juveniles for shooting people downtown with airsoft guns Friday, according to the city’s spokesperson, Vershurn Ford. The two juveniles were arrested for battery and their names are not being released; the airsoft gun used in the shooting has been recovered, according to Ford. A second incident on Eudora Road Saturday is still unsolved, Ford said in a press release. In that incident, a pedestrian was walking down Eudora Road when he was struck in the leg and near one of his eyes, Ford said. Police released photos of vehicles used in

MOUNT DORA, Florida—For the second time in a week a Lake County Schools student has been found with a loaded gun on campus. A Mount Dora Middle School guidance counselor received information that two students were seen vaping on the soccer field Friday. The guidance counselor asked for the school resource officer (SRO) to assist her, and they were able to identify the two students on video surveillance, according to an arrest affidavit. After identifying the boys, the principal and the SRO pulled one of them out of his classroom to search him for the vape. The boy, 15, denied

MOUNT DORA, Florida—An Ocoee man is being held in the Lake County Jail on $37,000 bond for several charges after allegedly driving recklessly through a construction zone, fleeing a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and ramming the trooper’s car, according to an arrest affidavit. Around 10: 30 p.m. Sunday, a trooper was on Wolfbranch Road approaching U.S. Highway 441 when he spotted a Chevrolet pickup truck run the northbound red light on U.S. Highway 441. “It appeared as though the driver (later identified as Benton Wesley Smith) ‘stabbed’ the throttle intentionally and the rear end of the pickup broke traction,” the

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A man who allegedly has been harassing his uncle for about four months was arrested for several charges after being accused of driving a truck into a fence at his uncle’s home Monday morning and intimidating his uncle and his wife Monday evening. Around 7:15 a.m. David Dwayne Johnson, 45, is alleged to have driven his truck into his uncle and aunt’s fence on 11th Avenue, destroying about 20 feet of the fence, according to an arrest affidavit. The couple called Mount Dora Police Department to respond and told an officer Johnson had been harassing them for around

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A motorcyclist died Saturday night after he was rear-ended and thrown from his bike, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. A 64-year-old Mount Dora man was riding a 2021 Harley Davidson motorcycle eastbound on Old U.S. Highway 441 when he slowed to make a left turn onto Holly Drive around 8:45 p.m., FHP Lt. Kim Montes said in a press release. A 2018 Hyundai being driven by a 34-year-old Mount Dora woman failed to slow and struck the back of the motorcycle as it approached the intersection, ejecting the rider. He was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares,

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A former Mount Dora city council member was arrested Monday—on the last day of Black History Month—for removing and damaging trees that fell on grave markers in an African American Civil War Cemetery, according to an arrest affidavit. Edward Lee Rowlett, 74, admitted to Mount Dora Police he hired a tree service to cut the trees down after police were called by a Country Club of Mount Dora Board (CCMD) member. He told MDPD there were two grave markers under the refuge left by the tree company and the responding officer performed an internet search of the cemetery

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A burned out taillight turned into a trip to jail for a van’s passenger early Friday morning. Mount Dora Police pulled over a van on East Spring Harbor Boulevard just before 3 a.m. when an officer noticed the left taillight out, according to an arrest affidavit. The officer noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the van as the officer spoke to the driver and told the driver they could smell it. The occupants were asked if there was any marijuana in the van and the driver said he smoked earlier, but to his knowledge there was not

MOUNT DORA, Florida—Two men who followed their intended robbery victim right into the parking lot of Mount Dora Police Department are behind bars on no bond. Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Wednesday a man in a truck pulled into the parking lot of MDPD, followed by another vehicle. The man in the truck told police the vehicle had been following him since he was in Orange County, flashing its high beams at him and making him feel uncomfortable. As the officer spoke to the victim, a man exited the second vehicle and made statements, “about a small Hispanic officer that shot

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A man wanted for conspiracy to introduce contraband into a detention facility compounded his problems Tuesday when he allegedly tampered with evidence and grabbed Lake County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Noble and refused to let him go. LCSO deputies responded to Quality Inn, 16630 U.S. Highway 441, Mount Dora to attempt to locate Michael Carl Nieves on a warrant Tuesday afternoon. After confirming his room number with management, deputies knocked on his door and Nieves answered, asking several times if he was going to jail, according to an arrest affidavit. Deputies informed Nieves, 51, he was going to be

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A Mount Dora man was arrested Monday for aggravated child abuse after he was accused of breaking his 8-month-old daughter’s leg, bruising several ribs and failing to get her immediate medical attention. According to a heavily redacted arrest affidavit, the infant was picked up from a home in Eustis around 5 p.m. Wednesday by her father, Dominic Tyler Ralston, 22, after spending the night of Oct. 26 and most of the day Wednesday with two individuals whose names were redacted. The baby had no visible injuries, except for a bruised forehead that was explained by the baby’s parents,