Unincorporated Lake

The following story was previously published on Lake Legal News.

SORRENTO, Florida— A man is facing several weapons charges after being accused of pointing a gun at a juvenile’s forehead Sunday, according to an arrest affidavit.

A juvenile was walking down Orange Street when a Dodge truck turned onto the street. The boy, whose age was not listed in the affidavit, told a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy he moved out of the way so the truck could pass, and the truck pulled up next to him. The driver, later identified as Reyes Trujillo, 25, told the boy to move and a verbal altercation ensued. Trujillo, of Sorrento, is alleged to have reached to his left hip area and pulled a gun out. He pointed it at the boy’s forehead and the boy walked off as Trujillo fired two shots and several more as he drove off, the affidavit states. None of the shots hit the boy.

The boy was able to describe the driver and his female passenger, and the deputy advised other units of the description and searched the area and found four .40 caliber shell casings near where the boy said he was assaulted.

A short time later, Trujillo was located in Orange County, in possession of a .40 caliber Glock with an altered serial number and the boy was able to identify him and his female passenger, according to the affidavit. The passenger told LCSO Trujillo was her boyfriend, and he did get into a verbal altercation with the boy. She said Trujillo shot the gun towards the ground and not at the boy, according to the affidavit.

Trujillo told the deputy he did not harm the victim and only did what he did to “spook” the boy and teach him respect. Trujillo was taken into custody and arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm in public, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of an altered forearm. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $20,000 bond.

The following story was previously published on Lake Legal News.

TAVARES, Florida — A 73-year-old man accused of chasing a man down and hitting him in the face with a tire iron earlier this month was picked up on a warrant for the crime Tuesday night, according to the arrest affidavit.

On April 2, James Edward Rogers, of Lady Lake, was helping a woman retrieve her belongings from a home on Tracy Lane in unincorporated Tavares, according to a probable cause affidavit. The victim came to the home to ensure his belongings were not being taken and a fight broke out between him and Rogers.

Rogers armed himself with a four-way tire iron and raised it in the direction of the victim, who punched Rogers in the face in self-defense, the affidavit states. Rogers chased the victim and struck him in the face with the tire iron and caused multiple lacerations to his face and head. Video surveillance confirmed the victim’s account of the incident.

The victim and a witness subdued Rogers; he is alleged to have pulled a handgun from his pocket, causing the witness to release him. The victim asked an additional witness to call 9-1-1 and Rogers left the area. A Lake County Sheriff’s deputy responded and requested a BOLO (be on the lookout) for Rogers’ vehicle and he was later located by a Sumter County Sheriff’s deputy. Rogers was armed with a gun similar to the gun described in the incident, but he was not arrested at that time, according to the affidavit. Rogers was arrested on a warrant for the crime Tuesday and was released from LCJ on $15,000 bond Wednesday morning.

The victim was treated at AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares for his injuries, and he will have permanent scarring on his face, the detective noted in the affidavit.

The following story was previously published on Lake Legal News.

SORRENTO, Florida — The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is releasing very limited information on a shooting that occurred following an argument in a liquor store parking lot Sunday afternoon.

A pair of brothers got into an argument with another male in the parking lot of Country Discount Liquor, 23825 Sorrento Avenue, also known as State Road 46, and the male shot one of the brothers, LCSO Sgt. Fred Jones told Lake Legal News. LCSO responded to the reported shooting at 4:40 p.m. and the man was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares. The hospital was locked down for a brief time as a precaution, according to a Tavares Police Department Facebook post Sunday.

LCSO is not releasing the names of any of the parties involved, or a motive, as it is still an active investigation, Jones told LLN, and “The victim is not cooperating at this time.”

If you have information on Sunday’s shooting, call LCSO at 352-343-2101.

The following story was previously published on Lake Legal News.

POLK COUNTY, Florida — DNA from a discarded cigar helped a nab a man who robbed several graves of remains last month and when Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives interviewed him, he confessed and snitched on his partner, according to a press release.

On Dec. 6, a woman and her daughter were driving northbound down Britt Road when they noticed a disrupted tombstone at Edgewood Cemetery and went into the cemetery and found two other graves vandalized and called LCSO, according to a report. Deputies responded and found four graves had been disturbed along with an attempt to access a fifth, LCSO Lt. John Herrell said last month.

“Detectives and crime scene investigators responded to the scene and began the investigation and found evidence that suggests that this incident is very likely tied to some form of ritualistic activity. Detectives also found that there were missing remains from the four graves that had been accessed,” Herrell said.

Crime scene investigators collected evidence, including cigars and a DNA test matched Brian Montalvo Tolentino, 43, of Davenport, in Polk County. Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) detectives then obtained a search warrant for Tolentino’s DNA on Jan. 6, according to a press release.

LCSO detectives interviewed Tolentino and he confessed to the crime and said Juan Burgos Lopez, 39, of Lake Wales, also in Polk County, was with him. Tolentino told LCSO Lopez used a crowbar to open the vaults and remove the skulls from four graves. Then they returned to Lopez’ home. Tolentino said they stole the skulls for religious practices, the press release states.

PCSO obtained a search warrant Wednesday night for Lopez’ home and found six skulls, a hand, a partial arm and multiple other large bones, within what appeared to be a religious shrine, Herrell said in the press release. Lopez told detectives four of the skulls did come from Edgewood Cemetery and the other two came from “other practitioners.”

Tolentino and Lopez were both arrested for four counts each of disturbing the contents of a grave and abuse of a dead human body. They were both booked into the Polk County Jail on $40,000. Additional charges in Polk County are pending.

The following story was previously published on Lake Legal News.

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, Florida — An Ocala man is being held in the Lake County Jail on two counts of attempted murder and two counts of robbery with a firearm stemming from a 2018 drug deal gone bad.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Sept. 27, 2018, Dexavion J’Neil Brown, who was 18 years old at the time, set up a meeting with a man he met in the juvenile justice system in 2017, to trade methamphetamine for a gun and $300. The pair agreed to meet at the intersection of County Road 445 and National Forest Road 18, a remote area near Alexander Springs, to make the exchange.

The victim, along with another man who was sitting in the passenger seat and a woman who was sitting in the back seat, were at the meeting location when Brown and an unidentified male pulled up. Brown walked over to the driver’s side window and spoke to man he knew from the juvenile justice system. Suddenly, Brown started shooting the man he knew and the male in the passenger seat, according to the affidavit. The driver suffered two gunshot wounds, one to the neck and one to the head and the passenger was shot six times in his head and upper torso. Both men were airlifted to Central Florida Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

The female in the back seat told a Lake County Sheriff’s Office detective she could smell gunpowder as she hid behind the passenger seat and pleaded with the unidentified male not to kill her. He told her, “Shut up, (expletive,)” and she fled from the vehicle into the woods. Brown took a cell phone, keys and a gun and fled the scene.

Brown was identified by the victim he personally knew, and in a photo line-up by a witness and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Brown was transported to the Lake County Jail by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday. He is being held on $200,000 bond.