UMATILLA, Florida—A rollover crash killed a Eustis man just before daylight Friday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The 41-year-old man was driving a 1997 Chevy GMT-400 northbound on State Road 19 near Baker Road just outside of Umatilla, when he lost control for an unknown reason while negotiating a lefthand curve around 6:35 a.m., FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said in a press release.
The Eustis man overcorrected, causing the truck to overturn multiple times and come to a final rest on the west shoulder of State Road 19, Crescenzi said. He was pronounced deceased on the scene. The crash remains under investigation.
EUSTIS, Florida—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday, according to LCSO Lt. Fred Jones.
A male was shot at a home on Southland Road in unincorporated Mount Dora around 4:15 p.m. Thursday during a dispute, Jones said.
The man attempted to drive himself to the hospital and had two small children in his vehicle, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake. His vehicle came to a rest in the parking lot of Golden Corral, 15810 U.S. Highway 441, Eustis and EPD officers responded and rendered aid, Capri said. The male was later airlifted to an Orlando hospital, Jones said.
This is a developing story.
A man was shot in unincorporated Mount Dora Thursday and attempted to drive himself to the hospital. He came to a stop in the parking lot of the Golden Corral in Eustis. PHOTO: Marilyn M. Aciego/Inside Lake
LAKE COUNTY, Florida—A Georgia man turned himself in at the Lake County Jail Saturday, accused of scamming nine people out of thousands of dollars for fences he failed to deliver.
Christopher Michael Graver, 42, of Cumming, Georgia is accused of taking down payments on fences from nine people for a total of more than $25,000, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Graver, who is the chief executive officer of Allstate Fence & Rail collected 50 percent down payments for fences between March 2021 and June 2021 and gave his customers numerous excuses as to why he could not install the fences, including a delay in materials, and problems with permits, according to the affidavit written by a Lake County Sheriff’s Office detective.
Financial records showed Graver paid off an American Express card that was used for personal expenses including family vacations, fine dining and alcohol. After the funds for the business were depleted, the business filed for bankruptcy in November 2021, the affidavit states.
A warrant was issued for Graver’s arrest in February for nine counts of grand theft and one count of scheme to defraud. He turned himself in at LCJ Saturday, where he was released on $23,000 bond.
Christopher Graver PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
TAVARES, Florida—Two people are dead following a head-crash on a busy Tavares Road Saturday night.
Shortly before 10:45 pm. Tavares Police Department responded to a report of a crash near County Road 561 and Lona Street. According to witnesses and evidence on scene, a 2019 black Nissan Sentra being driven by Scott Alexander Sawyer, 29, of Eustis, was speeding northbound on County Road 561 and attempted to pass vehicles on a double yellow line. He struck a 2008 gray Mazda Tribute head-on being driven southbound by Lindsay Marie Baker, 26, of Altoona, TPD Public Information Officer Courtney Sullivan told Inside Lake.
“Several area first responders responded to the scene in an attempt to render aid and assist with the investigation,” Sullivan said in an email.
Baker and Sawyer were both pronounced deceased following the crash and TPD traffic homicide investigators responded to the scene and took over the investigation, Sullivan said.
The crash shut down County Road 561 for several hours and remains under investigation.
EUSTIS, Florida—The man Eustis Police say robbed a downtown business Friday has a lengthy prison history and served his first prison sentence nearly 20 years ago, according to court records.
Jacob Thomas Parrish, 36, of Umatilla, was arrested shortly after 3 p.m. Friday after employees of Wells Fargo Advisors, 127 North Bay Street, in the heart of downtown Eustis, called 9-1-1 and reported Parrish entered the business armed with a knife. EPD Capt. Jon Fahning told Inside Lake Friday. Police believe Parrish thought the location was a bank; the building, at the corner of Bay Street and McDonald Avenue houses financial advisors.
Jacob Parrish PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Three employees were in the building and barricaded themselves in an office and Parrish refused to let them out and they called police, Fahning told Inside Lake on the scene. Parrish locked himself in the building and a manager of the business quickly brought law enforcement officers a key.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office assisted EPD and Parrish surrendered when a K9 arrived on the scene, Fahning said. None of the employees were injured. Parrish was taken into custody and arrested for armed robbery, and three counts of false imprisonment. He is being held in the Lake County Jail on $35,000 bond.
PHOTO: Marilyn M. Aciego/Inside Lake
According to Lake County Clerk of Court online records, Parrish was first sentenced to prison in June 2005 when he was just 19 years old. Parrish pleaded no contest to armed burglary, grand theft and carrying a concealed weapon. He was given a 40-month suspended prison sentence; he later violated community control and was sent to prison to serve his time. Documents containing the details of all his cases were not available Saturday.
In 2013, Parrish pleaded no contest to manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of a listed chemical and possession of paraphernalia. He was sentenced to two years in prison in that case. He was given credit for time served in LCJ and released March 17, 2014.
Just under six months later, Parrish was arrested again, this time for burglary, grand theft, resisting arrest and trespassing. He pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released Feb. 18, 2020.
EUSTIS, Florida—A man is in custody after entering a downtown Eustis building armed with a knife Friday afternoon.
Jacob Parrish, 36, of Umatilla entered Wells Fargo Advisors, 127 North Bay Street around 3 p.m. Friday armed with a knife while three employees, two females and a male were in the building, Eustis Police Department Capt. Jon Fahning told Inside Lake, the only media on the scene.
The three employees barricaded themselves in a room and Parrish refused to let them out and they called police, Fahning said. Parrish locked himself in the building at the corner of Bay Street and McDonald Avenue and a manager of the business quickly brought law enforcement officers a key. Fahning negotiated with Parrish, and he gave himself up when a Lake County Sheriff’s Office K9 arrived on scene. None of the employees were injured.
“He essentially surrendered,” Fahning said.
Police believe Parrish thought the business was a bank, but it houses financial advisors, Fahning said. Parrish was still in EPD custody at press time and had not been booked into the Lake County Jail, so a mugshot was not available.
EUSTIS, Florida—A woman who was jogging on Country Club Road in Eustis Friday morning was grabbed from behind by a man in what police describe as a “bear hug” and she fought him off with a water bottle, police say.
The woman was jogging northbound around 10:30 a.m. when the man came up behind her and grabbed her in a “bear hug” and thrust his hips into her in an aggressive and sexual manner, Eustis Police Department Capt. Jon Fahning told Inside Lake.
The victim hit the unidentified man with a water bottle, and he fled southbound on Country Club Road. The woman was not injured, Fahning said. The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing all black, including a black hoodie and a black and blue mask.
“She didn’t get a really good look at him,” Fahning said.
A neighbor and another man were in the area during the incident, heard the commotion and ran over to help the woman, but the suspect had already fled. EPD spent Friday canvassing the area and both the road patrol division and the criminal investigation division are working on the case, Fahning said.
EPD is asking anyone in the area who may have seen the man or captured him on video to call them at 352-357-4121.
EUSTIS, Florida—A report of identity theft at a Eustis bank last year launched a seven-month investigation that unraveled a mother-daughter Medicaid fraud scheme that culminated in a search warrant and an arrest earlier this month, according to an arrest affidavit.
In September 2022, Eustis Police Department responded to Wells Fargo, 16949 U.S. Highway 441 after a man reported his identity had been stolen and used to open a bank account. A lengthy investigation revealed the account was used to funnel money to Heather Linette Steverson, 55, and her daughter, Jessica Linette Chechile, 34, for alleged rides they gave to Medicaid patients, according to the affidavit.
EPD detectives found the mileage and time claimed to provide the rides did not add up, in addition to Chechile providing four rides while she was incarcerated at the Lake County Jail for possession of several drugs, including methamphetamine, morphine, dilaudid and oxycodone. EPD was also provided numerous recorded phone calls made by Steverson setting up rides while she pretended to be someone else.
Chechile was taken into custody after her bond was revoked in February for a prior drug charge and is now facing 174 charges in this case, including 79 counts each of forgery and uttering a forged document; 11 counts of criminal use of personal identification, and one count each of Medicaid recipient fraud, organized fraud, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, grand theft and racketeering. She is being held on no bond due to the revocation.
Her mother is facing 33 counts each of forgery and uttering a forged document, 13 counts of criminal use of personal identification one count each of Medicaid recipient fraud, organized fraud, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, grand theft and racketeering; in addition to two counts of possession of Oxycodone that was found on her when she was picked up on the warrant. She is being held on $247,000 bond.
EUSTIS, Florida—A 12-year-old boy was arrested Monday night after a mom alerted her child’s principal to group text messages between several Faith Lutheran School students that included a student threatening to shoot some of his classmates.
Inside Lake is not naming the boy due to his age.
Eustis Police Department responded to Faith Lutheran School, 2727 South Grove Street after the principal reported he had received an email from a parent of a student at the school. The principal said the parent stated she had received text messages on her child’s phone that contained threats to “shoot up the school,” the arrest affidavit states.
The parent sent screenshots of the text messages between several students that contained the threat and children that were named as possible targets. EPD contacted the mother of the boy who made the threat and met with her and the boy at the police department. Officers questioned the boy and he said he was “just joking around,” and he and his mother both said he did not have access to guns or other weapons, according to the affidavit.
The boy was arrested for written threats of a mass shooting and turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
UMATILLA, Florida—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in the murder of a man in Umatilla last year.
Only Inside Lake was on the scene after Antwain “Lil Daddy” Hart, 31, was found suffering at least one gunshot wound Nov. 8. 2022 in front of a home on Merrell Avenue in the Southside area of unincorporated Umatilla. He was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares by Lake EMS, but died during transport, LCSO Lt. John Herrell told Inside Lake last year.
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.
Undray Benson PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
LCSO began developing leads in the case following Hart’s murder and an arrest warrant for first degree murder was issued for an Orlando man on March 8. Undray Tony Benson, 51, was picked up in Orange County and booked into the Orange County Jail March 21; he was later transferred to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on no bond.
Details on what may have led to Hart’s murder are unknown because Benson’s probable cause affidavit is sealed. Herrell said a warrant has been issued for a second 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.
LCSO investigates after a man was found shot in unincorporated Umatilla in this November 2022 photo. PHOTO: Marilyn M. Aciego/Inside Lake
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