LAKE COUNTY, Florida—It was a busy Saturday for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol.
Deputies and troopers responded to a multitude of vehicle crashes in the Eustis, Paisley and Umatilla areas Saturday, according to LCSO Lt. Fred Jones. At County Road 42 and Deerhaven Road, a truck flipped and before deputies arrived, the driver fled the scene.
“The bloodhound and helicopter conducted an extensive search. The driver was not located,” Jones told Inside Lake.
The second crash was at County 437, south of State Road 44 in Eustis. The driver left the road, struck an oak tree and suffered severe head trauma. The driver was extracted from the vehicle and airlifted to AdventHealth Ocala; no other information was available at press time.
A third crash, at County Road 450A, just east of Crystal Lane in Umatilla, occurred around 10:45 p.m.
“When deputies arrived, they found the car split into two parts. The driver could not be located. An extensive search was conducted using a bloodhound and helicopter. The driver was eventually located at a friend’s house down the road from the crash,” Jones said in an email.
The 45-year-old Eustis man was driving a 2001 Acura CL Coupe when he crashed and told troopers he walked away from the crash because he did not have his phone, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi told Inside Lake.
The driver was transported by ground to HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Sanford with non-life-threatening injuries, Crescenzi said.
If you have information on any of the crashes, call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
TAVARES, Florida—The Lake Amateur Radio Association (LARA) hosted its annual Ham Radio Field Day event June 24 and 25 at the Lake County Institute of Public Safety, drawing enthusiasts from far and wide. The event, captured in a captivating photo, featured the club’s president, Glenn Casselman, and his spouse, Laura, who is also a Ham radio enthusiast. The picturesque location provided the perfect backdrop for a day filled with showcasing mobile command vehicles from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Fire Rescue, and, of course, the Lake Amateur Radio Association.
Established in 1952 by a group of Lake County/City radio amateurs, LARA has steadily grown over the years and now boasts a membership of more than 130 dedicated individuals. Not only do they own their own property, but they have also constructed a state-of-the-art clubhouse onsite. LARA’s primary focus lies in the fun hobby of Ham radio and service to the community. Furthermore, the club’s three VHF repeaters and three UHF repeaters, some of which are linked to Echolink, DMR and the IRLP network, enable worldwide communications, amplifying the club’s impact and reach.
PHOTO: Mark O’Keefe/Special to Inside Lake
The Ham Radio Field Day event at the Lake County Institute of Public Safety serves as a testament to LARA’s commitment to promoting the invaluable role of amateur radio in emergency situations. The event not only highlighted the association’s advanced communication capabilities but also fostered a sense of camaraderie among radio enthusiasts and local public safety agencies. As LARA continues to expand its membership and community involvement, their dedication to serving as a vital link during times of crisis remains unwavering. For more information, visit www.k4fc.org
UMATILLA, Florida—The third man suspected in the 2022 murder of a Umatilla man has been apprehended in Georgia, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Marvin Habakkuk Ellison, Jr., 40, of Orlando, was taken into custody at an apartment complex in in DeKalb County, Georgia on Friday morning and a search warrant was executed where he was staying, LCSO said.
A warrant was issued for Ellison’s arrest earlier this year and he was located by LCSO detectives, investigators from the Orlando Police Department and U.S. Marshals; he may be involved with other cases, according to LCSO.
Ellison and two other men, Deandre Bernard Anderson, 32, of Leesburg and Undray Tony Benson, 51, of Orlando are accused of murdering 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.
Antwain “Lil Daddy” Hart was murdered in Umatilla in 2022. Deputies have arrested three men for his murder. PHOTO: Hart Family
Only Inside Lake was on the scene following the shooting. 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.
PHOTOS: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Earlier this year, Benson and Anderson were 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 and Ellison is awaiting extradition to Lake County. Ellison’s mugshot was not available at press time.
UMATILLA, Florida— A motorcyclist was killed Sunday afternoon after he attempted to pass a pickup truck in a no-passing zone as the truck was making a left turn, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 51-year-old Enterprise man was riding a 2019 Ducati Panigale motorcycle southbound on County Road 44A approaching Bill Collins Road in unincorporated Umatilla when he attempted to pass a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado towing a boat just after 1:30 p.m., FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said in an email.
As the 19-year-old Umatilla man driving the Silverado made a left turn onto Bill Collins Road, the motorcycle struck the left rear of the truck, Crescenzi said.
A witness to the crash, who wished to remain anonymous, told Inside Lake the motorcyclist was with a group of bikers when the crash happened.
“It was a group of eight to 10 sport bikes going 70 to 100 (miles per hour) and passing on the double line going south. The (teen) driving the pickup was making a left turn onto Bill Collins and the group of bikes was also going south and passing illegally at excessive speed – one of them, likely the first bike, ran into the side of the pickup catapulting the rider to his death,” the witness told Inside Lake. “The back wheel was off the bike and the bike was still running after the wreck.”
One of the bikers in the group was very aggressive toward a second witness and the driver of the truck, according to the witness who spoke to Inside Lake. The witness got in between that biker and the teen and told the teen to get back in the truck. The teen was not injured and remained on scene.
The motorcyclist, who was wearing a helmet, was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares where he was pronounced deceased, Crescenzi said. His next of kin has been notified.
LEESBURG, Florida—Three people were killed Wednesday morning in a crash that shut down U.S. Highway 441 for several hours, according to Leesburg Police Department.
A blue 2020 Ford Mustang being driven by a 77-year-old male of Mount Dora was southbound on U.S. Highway 441 near Sleepy Hollow Road when it rear-ended a 2023 Hyundai Tucson being driven by a 69-year-old woman, just before 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, LPD Capt. Joe Iozzi said in an email.
The Mustang then traveled over the center median into the northbound lanes where it struck a gray 2013 Hyundai Sonata being driven by a 42-year-old Umatilla man. A black 2012 Chevrolet Silverado then collided with the Sonata. The driver of the Mustang and the driver of the Sonata were both pronounced deceased on the scene; a passenger in the Sonata, a 66-year-old man, was transported to an area hospital, where he later died, Iozzi said.
PHOTO: Leesburg Fire Rescue
“Preliminary findings suggest the 2020 Ford Mustang was at fault in the crash, but a full investigation is currently being conducted,” Iozzi said.
Police are asking anyone with information to call the LPD Traffic Unit at 352-787-2121.
This is the second triple traffic fatality in Lake County in less than a week; two women and a man were killed Friday on State Road 33 near Clermont after the pickup truck they were in struck a semi and a dump truck head-on.
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.
UMATILLA, Florida—The young girl left in a sweltering hot van last summer for 1 hour and 22 minutes beat on the van’s windows and doors and honked the horn until she was rescued, and the adults in charge of her failed to call 9-1-1, according to the girl’s mom and a report obtained by Inside Lake.
The girl, who was three weeks shy of her 7th birthday when the incident occurred in June 2022, fell asleep on a field trip to the Umatilla Public Pool and the adults who were responsible for her care failed to notice she was in the van and failed to count the children when they arrived at the pool to an outside temperature of 90 degrees last summer, according to the report written by Umatilla Police Department.
Inside Lake is not naming the girl or her mother.
According to the report, the child was at a summer camp held by Dance Depot at its Mount Dora location June 22, 2022, when a group of 41 children and seven staff members made the trek to the pool in three different vehicles. Dance Depot Owner Jolene Coates, 51, told UPD when they arrived at the pool, she said they counted the children but did not walk the length of the van due to the back doors being open at the time. Coates said 41 children were in the count and another child that was not in their group must have been counted by accident. Coates was not driving the van the child was trapped in. Another employee—the van’s driver— told police during a later interview that a head count was conducted before they left the studio, but not after they arrived at the pool, contradicting the statement Coates made to police. She told police Coates usually conducts the head counts, but sometimes that can change, and she was just “so busy” that day she did not conduct a count. Inside Lake is not naming the employee because she has not been charged with a crime.
Coates told police in a second interview in July 2022 she did not have any medical training except a recently expired CPR certification and “mom skills.” She said she did everything she would do if it was one of her own children.
The day of the incident, numerous people heard honking coming from outside the pool, Coates went out to investigate and found the girl locked in the van and ran to get the keys to let her out, the report states. Coates told police the girl had been left in the van approximately 40 to 50 minutes, but surveillance video later showed the girl had actually been alone in the locked van for 82 minutes, close to 1.5 hours. The video shows the campers arriving and entering the pool at 1:42 p.m., and just before 3:03 p.m. Coates is seen walking from the pool area to the parking lot. One minute later Coates is seen running back to the pool area to retrieve the keys to the van and at 3:05 p.m. Coates is seen walking back to the pool area with the girl.
The video also showed the girl’s face was “extremely” red and the top half of her shirt was so soaked with sweat, it appeared to be a darker color than the bottom half, an officer noted in the report.
Coates said she removed the child from the van, took her in a bathroom, removed her bathing suit, put cold water on her pulse points and neck. She then had the girl sit in the shade and gave her a popsicle. Three lifeguards told UPD the girl was crying and one of them, a juvenile, said the girl was having trouble breathing.
Coates said about 5 minutes later the girl asked to get in the pool, and she swam with her friends the rest of the time she was at the pool.
Jolene Coates
When Inside Lake broke the story Wednesday, it garnered dozens of comments on social media and opinions and rumors started flying, including a rumor that the girl continued to attend the summer camp following the incident. The girl’s mom spoke to this reporter Thursday to set the record straight.
According to Mom, Coates did not inform her about the incident until she picked her daughter up that afternoon and she was not truthful.
“We were not immediately notified,” she said.
Mom said Coates did apologize and she could tell Coates was “torn about something.” Coates told her they would be working on new training to make sure there was a head count as soon as they got out of the van, and it was a new employee who did not follow procedure.
She said when a UPD officer called her the day after the incident she was shocked to find out her little girl had been in the van much longer than Coates portrayed.
“The thing that caught me off guard…is that the time frame did not match with what was shown on the surveillance video. It seemed like a quick in-and-out thing, not an extended amount of time.”
The girl returned to the camp the next day, but once UPD told Mom how long the girl had actually been trapped in the van, her father immediately went to the studio and picked her up and she never returned, Mom said.
“Because of the conversation we had with Jolene (Coates,) and we had entrusted her, and we knew of her reputation; it was an accident. And then once we got the report from the police and the witness statements, we realized we were lied to, I immediately called my husband, and he promptly went and got her out of there.”
People on social media also questioned why the child did not get out of the van on her own, “She was banging on the doors, she banged on the windows, she couldn’t open the doors, she couldn’t open the windows. Her hands, they were beet red, like the veins on her hands were bloodshot from banging on them and then she was able to get to the horn, thankfully.”
When Mom and Dad spoke with police the day after the incident, they pressed charges that day, Mom said, and the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) had already planned on picking up the charges. She said the SAO told them in August 2022, an arrest could take a long time, as much as a year or more and they could only charge one party and the office felt the owner was the most liable. It was nearly 11 months since the incident when the principal to child neglect warrant was finally issued, and it took another week for her to get arrested. She was arrested and released Monday on $2,000 bond.
The second grader does not have any lasting physical injuries, but the incident has taken an emotional toll on her, Mom said. Her parents have had to reevaluate how they do certain things, and they rearranged their schedules this summer so they can spend the summer with her, rather than enroll her in a summer camp. Mom told Inside Lake she has become a “helicopter mom” and no longer trusts anyone to watch the girl outside of family.
Mom said she would like to see Coates get the maximum punishment and accountability for her actions. “I want the most responsible outcome anyone would expect out of this. If this was their child, like anybody else, if this was their child, how would they feel?”
UMATILLA, Florida—The owner of a popular dance studio with locations in Umatilla and Mount Dora was arrested at her home in Altoona Monday for child neglect, according to Lake County Clerk of Court Records.
Jolene Amy Coates, 51, owner of Dance Depot was picked up on the warrant by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office stemming from an incident in June 2022. The warrant was a direct file from Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney William “Bill” Gladson’s office May 10.
According to the information filed in the warrant, Coates, “while being responsible for the welfare of the (undisclosed victim)” left a child unsupervised in a hot vehicle with temperatures above 90 degrees. The child’s name is redacted from one copy of the document, and Inside Lake is not releasing her name. It is unclear what relationship Coates had to the girl, who was 6 years old at the time.
Details in the public record are limited and Inside Lake was tipped off to the arrest after business hours Wednesday.
According to Coates’ arrest affidavit, she was arrested at her home in Altoona Monday afternoon and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $2,000 bond.
Dance Depot’s website lists Coates as the owner/director and states she teaches princess classes, combination classes and works with Revolution, the performance company. The studio also offers a summer camp, according to its website.
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.
MARION COUNTY, Florida—The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for an SUV that hit a Umatilla bicyclist early Friday morning, killing him.
The 44-year-old man, identified by his sister as Patrick Williams, was riding in an unknown direction in the outside southbound lane of U.S. Highway 441 near Del Webb Boulevard in an unknown direction, when he was struck by an SUV traveling south.
The SUV struck the bicycle and fled the scene; the bicycle was not equipped with illumination devices, FHP said. Williams was pronounced deceased on the scene by Marion County Fire Rescue shortly before 5 a.m. Friday. FHP is searching for the driver and the vehicle they believe to be a silver or grey Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, or C Series/K Series 1500, 1500 HD, 2500 HD or 3500 HD between the model years of 1994 and 1998. If you have information, call *FHP on your cell phone.
