LEESBURG, Fla.—A search warrant earlier this week took multiple guns and trafficking amounts of drugs off the street and landed a Leesburg man in jail whose criminal history dates back 26 years, according to an arrest affidavit.
Around 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Lake County Sherriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit (SIU,) LCSO SWAT, Homeland Security agents and detectives with Clermont, Eustis, Leesburg and Mount Dora police departments executed a search warrant at 2519 Myer Ave., Leesburg and found Walter Canady, 43, sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in the driveway and 12 other people at the home.
Upon searching the home, detectives found a bedroom without a doorknob and locked with a deadbolt. After removing the deadbolt, LCSO found a cache of drugs, including about a pound of cocaine, 6 ounces of methamphetamine, 15 grams of fentanyl, 40 grams of MDMA, a small amount of marijuana, paraphernalia and seven firearms. When Canady was searched, deputies found numerous keys in his pocket, one that opened the deadbolt, the affidavit states.
Canady denied ever being in the home and said he had only been on the front screened patio, but detectives say that was a lie, as he was spotted exiting the home about five minutes before LCSO executed the search warrant.
Canady was arrested for armed trafficking of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA; possession paraphernalia; possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and five counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.
Two other people were arrested at home in addition to Canady; Gabriella Partridge, 32, was arrested on a warrant for violation of probation, Rosa L. Taylor, 55, was arrested for a Sumter County warrant for grand theft and Taylor G. Estrill, 27, was issued a summons to appear in court for possession of drug paraphernalia.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—A motorcyclist thrown from his bike after striking a pedestrian who was standing in the middle of the road last summer has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the bar he says knowingly served an alcoholic before the fatal crash.
According to the lawsuit, Jason Dean Bowlin, 42, was served “numerous alcoholic beverages while a patron at Big Dog Saloon” on or about Aug. 20, 2023. Around 12:45 a.m. Brandon Crunk was riding his 2021 Harley-Davidson westbound on County Road 19A near Progress Boulevard when he struck Bowlin who was standing in the middle of County Road 19A, less than half of a mile from Big Dog Saloon.
The impact killed Bowlin and threw Crunk from the motorcycle, severely injuring him. The lawsuit states Bowlin was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash and he was “habitually addicted to alcohol and/or was a habitual drunkard.”
Crunk filed the lawsuit against Toga Holding Co. Inc. and Sara-Dora Tavern Inc. in Lake County Circuit Court Thursday morning and states the defendants and its “employees, agents, and/or representatives knew that Bowlin was habitually addicted to the use of alcoholic beverages.”
Crunk is represented by M. Jesse Stern of Newsome Melton PA in Orlando, and he is seeking damages “in excess of $50,000.”
EUSTIS, Fla.—The man accused of multiple thefts in Eustis and Mount Dora beginning in October 2023 is now facing more charges, according to Eustis Police Department.
Jordan Makuannen, 19, has been held in the Lake County Jail on no bond since he was arrested earlier this week after Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies worked together and took him into custody after he bailed out of a stolen vehicle near the Lake County/Polk County line.
Makuannen is now facing additional charges related to the stolen Dodge Durango he dumped at Club at Eustis Apartments March 3, including burglary to an occupied dwelling, grand theft from a dwelling, grand theft, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and grand theft auto.
In that case, Makuannen is believed to have climbed through a window of a home on East Atwater Avenue while a resident was asleep; he took electronics, the keys to the Durango and the Durango. This theft was just one day after he was captured on video stealing groceries off the porch of a home on Morin Street and at least the second time he is accused of entering a residence while someone was home.
After EPD officers recovered the stolen Durango, they found groceries that matched items stolen from Morin Street and located items that belong to a Eustis woman and were taken in a separate theft, according to an affidavit.
Makuannen is facing a slew of charges and is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond due to his failure to appear in court for his October 2023 case.
LEESBURG, Fla.—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office quickly arrested a Leesburg woman early Saturday morning after a boy told his mother she inappropriately touched him while he was sleeping.
LCSO responded to a home in unincorporated Leesburg after the boy’s mom reported her son had called her “in a complete panic” and said he woke up to Anna Jackson, 38, rubbing his genitals and inner thigh, according to an arrest affidavit.
The boy, whose name is redacted because he is the victim of a sex crime, is between 12 and 15 years old, his exact age is also redacted. He told a deputy he was sleeping when he awoke to Jackson reaching under his clothes and touching his genital area. He said she got up and left the room but came back and began to touch him again. The boy said she only used her hands to touch him, and she touched him underneath his clothes.
He told her to stop, left the room and called his mom.
After speaking with the boy, deputies woke Jackson up and she said she had four to five small alcoholic drinks and did not remember anything except coming home and going to bed. Deputies questioned her about her sleeping habits, and she mentioned she had been single for a year, according to the affidavit. She also changed her story about the incident several times while being questioned.
Jackson was arrested for lewd and lascivious molestation and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released Monday on $10,000 bond.
TAVARES, Fla.—A Jacksonville man is being held in the Lake County Jail after being accused of stealing a vehicle from a business in Fruitland Park, fleeing from a Tavares Police Department officer and fighting that officer and another one last week.
Nigel Jaylen Sabb, 28, is accused of stealing a 2014 Ford Edge from Honest Autos, 2381 U.S. Highway 441, Fruitland Park around 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a Fruitland Park Police Department arrest affidavit. A representative of the business told FPPD a customer dropped off the vehicle for some cosmetic repairs and left the keys in the exterior door lock and less than an hour later, Sabb walked onto the lot and stole the SUV.
The SUV, equipped with a GPS tracker, was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 441 and FPPD alerted Tavares Police Department and Eustis Police Department it was headed their way. Just before 9:45 a.m. a TPD officer spotted the vehicle traveling southbound and he performed a U-turn to get a better look at the tag, according to a TPD arrest affidavit.
Sabb began driving recklessly, changing lanes multiple times, failing to yield to oncoming traffic and nearly causing several crashes. TPD attempted to pull Sabb over and he began to swerve across all southbound lanes while moving around in the vehicle.
The TPD officer then deactivated his lights and made a U-turn to show the driver he was not pursuing the SUV, the affidavit states. Sabb then swerved across all three southbound lanes, jumped a median, drove into oncoming traffic and hit a vehicle head-on, according to the affidavit.
The officer reactivated his lights, pulled up to the crash and exited with his gun drawn; Sabb exited the SUV through the front passenger door and fled on foot. He was wearing dark clothing and carrying an object believed to be a backpack. The officer holstered his firearm and drew his taser as he began to chase Sabb. He deployed the taser and it struck Sabb’s clothing but did not incapacitate him and he continued to run. TPD lost Sabb around 2100 Lake Eustis Drive and then spotted him again wearing different clothing and walking near Joy Lane in the Lake Point Mobile Home Park; the officer also noticed he was no longer carrying anything.
The officer began following Sabb as a second officer pulled up as backup. Sabb saw the officer’s patrol vehicle and began running and both officers began chasing him. The first officer took a different route in an attempt to cut Sabb off while the backup officer stayed on Sabb. The backup officer later got on the radio and “in a manner that was partial and unclear…advised that (Sabb) was fighting him. It was apparent (the officer) was involved in a struggle,” the TPD officer wrote in the affidavit.
The officer could not immediately find Sabb and the backup officer and could not reach him on the radio. He finally heard the pair scuffling and located them behind a home on Douglas Drive and saw the backup officer struggling to gain control of Sabb’s hands. The officers were able to get Sabb under control after another scuffle and the threat of being tased. He was medically cleared and transported to the Lake County Jail.
The backup officer later said Sabb either punched him or hit his head on something and took his radio off his vest, depriving him of means to communicate with other officers and dispatch and the officer sustained head injuries as a result of the fight, according to the affidavit. Sabb is facing numerous charges from TPD, including battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, two counts of resisting arrest without violence, depriving an officer of means of communication and reckless driving, in addition to grand theft auto and burglary from FPPD. He is being held on no bond.
Prior history
In June 2017, Sabb was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after he pointed a loaded gun at a JSO officer who pulled him over while driving a stolen car. In 2018, he was arrested in St. Johns County for another 2017 crime, this one committed when he was just 20 years old. In that case, Sabb was accused of tying two men and a woman up during a Ponte Vedre Beach home invasion, forcing the woman to perform oral sex on him at gunpoint, ransacking the home, stealing cash and other belongings and stealing a car. DNA from the sexual battery connected Sabb to the crime. Sabb spent around a year in the St. Johns County Jail until the charges were dropped about month before the case was set to go to trial. It is unknown why the charges were dropped.
CLERMONT, Fla.—A man wanted for failure to appear in court for crimes in 2023 and now suspected of committing recent thefts in Eustis and Mount Dora, was apprehended after a Polk County license plate reader hit on the stolen SUV he was driving early Monday morning.
According to an arrest affidavit, around 4:45 a.m. Monday, the Polk County license plate reader hit on a black Honda SUV that was stolen in Mount Dora and Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) deputies located it traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 27 near U.S 192, approaching the Lake County line. PCSO’s Aviation Unit observed the Honda turn eastbound on Hartwood Marsh Road and then onto Lovers Lane. The vehicle then came to a stop in the 11000 block of Avalon Ridge Way and the driver, later identified as Jordan Makuannen, 19, fled on foot and attempted to hide behind a sand berm at Tarmac- Center Sand Mine.
PCSO’s Aviation Unit watched Makuannen from above while deputies on the ground deployed a PCSO K9 and Makuannen was located and taken into custody. Makuannen refused to identify himself to Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies but when he arrived at the Lake County Jail, jail staff was able to identify him, the affidavit states.
Jordan Makuannen in his October 2023 mugshot, left, and his mugshot taken after his arrest Monday.
Makuannen was already wanted for failure to appear on charges related to an October 2023 case in Eustis. Only Inside Lake reported in 2023 Makuannen’s stepfather turned him in after finding numerous identification cards in his home on East Atwater Avenue. Officers responded to the home and collected the cards that matched up to several victims of burglaries of both homes and vehicles in the area, some nearly two months old. The victims reported numerous items stolen, including guns, wallets, purses, electronics, cash and credit cards. Sixteen vehicle burglaries were reported during October 2023 and at least eight of them are within one half of a mile of the home on East Atwater Avenue, according to an affidavit in that case. In one incident, Makuannen is suspected of stealing a woman’s purse after entering her home on Blackberry Court, armed with a knife, while the victim was home.
EPD began watching Makuannen’s home on East Atwater Avenue in October and when he returned, officers knocked on the door and he fled from the back porch; he was taken into custody a few blocks away in the parking lot of a business on South Bay Street. He was arrested for eight charges, including armed burglary and grand theft and locked up on $65,000 bond. According to Lake County Clerk of Court online records, on Dec. 6, 2023, Makuannen’s public defender filed a motion to release him on his own recognizance because more than 30 days had passed since his arrest, and he had not been formally charged. About a week later, Circuit Judge Cary Rada granted the motion on the majority of his charges, reducing his bond to $16,000 and he bonded out Dec. 23, 2023. He failed to appear at subsequent court dates following his release, according to online records.
Eustis Police Department officers are seen here in October 2023 after apprehending burglary suspect Jordan Makuannen who fled from them. PHOTO: Shannon Cook/Special to Inside Lake
On March 1, Makuannen was captured on surveillance video stealing a grocery order off of a porch on Morin Street in Eustis. In that incident, Makuannen is seen wearing tan pants and black slides as he takes several bags of groceries around 6 p.m. and again around five minutes later when he returns for a case of water.
Two days later, on March 3, LCSO attempted to pull over a Dodge Durango that had been stolen from a home on East Atwater Avenue—the same street Makuannen lives on and one of the vehicles he is suspected of burglarizing in October 2023.
The Durango fled and was later found abandoned at Club at Eustis Apartments behind Publix on David Walker Drive. Officers searched the Durango and found several grocery bags and items that matched what was stolen from the home on Morin Street.
Video surveillance captured Makuannen running through the apartment complex wearing the same black slides he was wearing when he stole the groceries two days prior, and another video showed Makuannen removing his black slides and leaving them on a staircase. EPD officers found the slides and collected them as evidence, but they did not find Makuannen.
After identifying Makuannen as the suspect in the grocery grab, EPD detectives secured a warrant for Makuannen’s arrest, as the court issued a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear. Makuannen apparently cut his hair, and stayed under the radar until he was apprehended Monday. He could be facing more charges in cases that are still under investigation, EPD Chief Craig Capri said.
He is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.
LEESBURG, Fla.—Authorities have released the name of the man pronounced dead at a Leesburg gas station Friday and they do not believe his death was the result of foul play, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Dispatchers at Leesburg Police Department received a call from a person attempting to drive someone to the hospital Friday afternoon and they were instructed to pull over if they needed medical assistance, LCSO Cpl. Chanel Martin told Inside Lake Friday. Leesburg Police Department Capt. Joe Iozzi said investigators determined the incident began in LCSO’s jurisdiction and LCSO took over the investigation.
The driver pulled over at Wawa, 1400 North Boulevard, Leesburg and when EMS arrived, they pronounced John Michael Smith deceased, Martin said.
“The decedent, John Michael Smith, was turned over to the medical examiner’s office. There were no apparent signs of foul play, trauma, or a drug overdose,” Martin told Inside Lake. “He also had a medical history.”
SUMTER COUNTY, Fla.—The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for a gray or silver Honda Civic that intentionally rammed a motorcycle on Interstate 75 just after midnight Friday.
A 52-year-old Leesburg man was riding a motorcycle near mile marker 319 in a northbound lane and passed a commercial vehicle on the outside shoulder while the Civic passed in the center lane, according to FHP.
After the Civic and the motorcycle had passed the commercial vehicle, the driver of the Civic “abruptly steered to the outside shoulder and rammed the motorcycle intentionally,” FHP said in a press release.
Video of a road rage incident that sent a Leesburg motorcyclist to the hospital just after midnight Friday. VIDEO: Florida Highway Patrol
The impact caused the motorcycle to overturn several times into the wood line and the Civic fled the scene. The motorcyclist was seriously injured and transported to a local hospital for treatment.
FHP recovered car parts at the scene indicating the suspect vehicle was a 2020 Honda Civic. If you have information on the incident, call *FHP or Crime Stoppers at **TIPS.
Car parts found on the scene of a Sumter County road rage incident early Friday. The Florida Highway Patrol believes the parts belong to a 2020 Honda Civic. PHOTOS: Florida Highway Patrol
LEESBURG, Fla.—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a death that occurred Friday.
Dispatchers at Leesburg Police Department received a call from a person attempting to drive someone to the hospital and they were instructed to pull over if they needed medical assistance, LCSO Cpl. Chanel Martin told Inside Lake.
They pulled over at Wawa, 1400 North Boulevard, Leesburg and when EMS arrived, they found a person was deceased, Martin said. Leesburg Police Department Capt. Joe Iozzi said investigators determined the incident began in LCSO’s jurisdiction and LCSO took over the investigation. Martin said LCSO detectives and the medical examiner are on scene and the investigation is ongoing. At press time person’s identity had not been released and the cause of death was unknown.
CLERMONT, Fla.—An 18-year-old man is scheduled to be arraigned later this month on a charge of lewd and lascivious exhibition after being accused of exposing himself to a minor female in the parking lot of a busy store in February.
On Feb. 23, the girl told a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy she walked up to the vehicle she was riding in the parking lot of Kohl’s, 12305 U.S. Highway 27, Clermont when Ismael Torres Marchany, of Clermont, “startled her.” She said Marchany was making a “hissing” sound and when she turned around, he was exposing and touching himself, according to an arrest affidavit.
The victim became upset and started to cry and got into the passeneger side of the vehicle and told the woman she was with. The victim continued crying and began to panic and shake and the woman drove slowly through the parking lot and was able to get the make, model and license plate of the vehicle Marchany was driving. The victim and the woman went to their home in unincorporated Clermont and waited on deputies.
They gave the vehicle information to a deputy, and it came back to Marchany. The deputy contacted Marchany and met him on Thousand Trails Boulevard at Thousand Trails Orlando, an RV park in unincorporated Clermont. Marchany told the deputy he did not speak English and an officer from Clermont Police Department responded to the scene to translate, the affidavit states.
Marchany told law enforcement he works across the street from Kohl’s and was on a break. He said he went to Kohl’s parking lot to listen to music and as his break ended, he went to change into his uniform to go back to work.
“During the questioning he changed his words of time frame a couple of times, as well as stating that he had boxers on the entire time but ended fully nude in his vehicle,” the arresting deputy noted in the affidavit.
Marchany was not questioned about the minor female but brought her up on his own and said a female came up to his driver’s door when he was “looking away and not paying attention,” the affidavit states. Marchany said she startled him but at “no point did he touch himself in a sexual way. Marchany said he changed his clothes, went back to work and then went home.
Marchany was placed under arrest and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $5,000 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 18.
Clermont Police Department is also investigating a similar incident that occurred on Dec. 23, 2023, involving the same vehicle and more charges against Marchany are possible in that case.
