GRAND ISLAND—Crews from Lake County Fire Rescue, Eustis Fire Department and Umatilla Fire Department battled a barn fire late Friday afternoon on County Road 452 in Grand Island.
Smoke could be seen as far away as County Road 44, near Grand Island Baptist Church and crews knocked the fire down quickly, a witness said. A hazmat crew responded to the scene, as a precaution due to fertilizer being in the barn, a source told Inside Lake. Lake EMS was on the scene, but there were no reported injuries.
This is a developing story.
Smoke could been seen on County Road 44 near Grand Island Baptist Church from a barn fire on County Road 452 Friday afternoon. PHOTO: Corwin Hilt
EUSTIS, Florida—The toddler struck Thursday afternoon in the driveway of a home in Eustis has passed away, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri said Friday morning.
The boy was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando around 2:45 p.m. Thursday after he was struck by a full-size truck being driven by a family member, EPD Capt. Jon Fahning told Inside Lake.
The boy, who is not being publicly identified, darted in front of the truck when the family member was moving the truck to the back of the property on Bates Avenue near Eustis Middle School. The driver believed the child was inside the home with another adult.
An EPD officer and a Eustis Fire Department lieutenant were both in the area on separate assignments and immediately responded to the scene to render aid to the boy, sources told Inside Lake.
It appears to be a tragic accident, Fahning said, and there were no signs the driver was impaired. The incident remains under investigation, Capri said.
Update: 10:45 a.m. Friday. The boy has passed away, according to EPD Chief Craig Capri. See below for our updated story.
EUSTIS, Florida—A toddler was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando after he was struck by a vehicle being driven by a family member, according to Eustis Police Department.
The boy, who is not being publicly identified at this time, darted in front of a full-size truck being driven by a member of his family around 2:30 p.m. in the driveway of the home on Bates Avenue, Capt. Jon Fahning told Inside Lake.
A Eustis Police officer was in the area on an assignment and immediately stopped what he was doing and responded to the scene to render aid to the tot, Fahning said. He was airlifted a short time later and remains in critical condition.
The incident appears to be a tragic accident, Fahning said, and there were no signs the driver was impaired.
EUSTIS, Florida—The former manager of a busy gas station was arrested Thursday after a months-long investigation by Eustis Police Department revealed she stole at least $75,000, according to an arrest affidavit.
Alicia Marie Winters, 28, is facing three charges including grand theft from a person older than 65, organized fraud and extortion. According to the affidavit, Winters, as the store manager of 7-Eleven, 2002 North State Road 19, Eustis, was responsible for payroll, and she made 46 unauthorized direct deposits totaling $69,508 to herself between November 2020 and Aug. 1, 2022, in addition to four fraudulent employee accounts in the store owner’s name that Winters used to deposit more money into her personal account. Winters was also captured on video removing cash deposits from the vault totaling more than $42,000 between Aug. 23 and Aug. 28, 2022. More charges are possible, a detective close to the investigation told Inside Lake.
EPD served a search warrant at Winters’ home in Eustis Thursday and found deposit slips relevant to the investigation, in addition to an HP laptop Winters is accused of stealing from the store. Winters was questioned following the search warrant and said she typically worked 90 hours per week and was “angry” because the store owner had been flirting with her and made unwanted advances toward her, the affidavit states.
Winters told an EPD detective the extra deposits were from an “agreement” she made with the owner. She claimed the owner said he would pay her a “special payroll amount” for time she worked over 40 hours per week, and no one knew about the agreement except her and the owner, who is 69 years old. She said he agreed to $20 per hour for everything over 40 hours, which would amount to around $1,000 over her normal salary of $900 per week. She also stated the owner would pay her lump sums of $3,000 and $5,000 in addition to the regular payroll and “special payroll.” In 2021, Winters said, the owner received a PPP loan and he needed to pay her through payroll with that money to justify the loan.
Winters also admitted paid herself $5,175 after she was fired in August. EPD questioned her about attempts to pay herself $10,000 and $11,000 multiple times after that and she denied those transactions, the affidavit states.
The owner of the store told police Winters stole a metal box from the store that held personal documents, including his birth certificate and business license and she was also questioned about auditing documentation that was missing; she said she threw it away because she believed that was her work that she was not getting paid for. She told the owner to tell everyone to leave her alone and he would get the documents back. “Alicia (Winters) said her intent was to hurt him financially because basically he was hurting her with the investigation,” a detective noted in the affidavit.
Winter was taken into custody and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $40,000 bond.
In 2017, Winter was arrested on five charges for her role as the driver when a 2-year-old girl was shot in a drive-by shooting at Tavares’ Rosewood Apartments. Winters pleaded no contest to two of the charges and the other three were dropped. She was sentenced to five years’ probation and petitioned the court for early termination in 2021; the early termination was granted, according to Lake County Clerk of Court online records.
TAVARES, Florida—Body cam footage released by Tavares Police Department Friday shows a 14-year veteran Tavares Police officer using excessive force on a Eustis man during a consensual encounter and Tavares Police Chief Sarah Coursey has recommended he be fired over the incident, according to a press release.
“Officer (Jason) Baugh acted outside of policy and standard practice. When we learned of this incident, we took immediate action to rectify it,” Coursey said. “His actions are not indicative of how our officers act towards our community in which we serve and protect.”
Baugh, who started with TPD in 2008, was captured on body cam tasing Jaylin McMullen, 26, after chasing him inside a house in Tavares and then pointing his service weapon at McMullen, according to an internal affairs investigation. McMullen was arrested for resisting an officer without violence, and a violation of probation but the charges were dropped six days later.
Baugh spotted Jaylin McMullen driving down U.S. Highway 441 on Aug. 6 with a broken windshield, but did not perform a traffic stop, according to the report.
“I wasn’t in proximity to conduct a traffic stop,” Baugh told the internal affairs investigator, but he did attempt to locate the vehicle and found it with the engine running at a home in the 700 block of St. Clair Abrams Avenue, ran the tag and found that it came back to McMullen, who has a Eustis address. Baugh exited his patrol vehicle, spotted McMullen in the backyard of the home and ordered McMullen to come talk to him.
The exchange between Baugh and McMullen can be heard on body cam and is as follows:
McMullen: Yes, sir?
Baugh: How you doin’?
McMullen: Good.
Baugh: Your car?
McMullen: Yes.
Baugh: You just driving it?
McMullen: Yes, sir.
Baugh: Cool, come here and talk to me.
McMullen: OK, hold on, let me go (McMullen trails off as he is also talking on the phone.)
Baugh: Come talk to me.
Baugh: Come here.
Baugh: Come here.
(Baugh uses radio to make a transmission.)
Baugh: Come here.
(McMullen turns to enter the home, walking at a normal pace, not running.)
Baugh: Stop!
Baugh: Right now!
Approximately two seconds after Baugh yelled, “Stop!” he deployed his taser and strikes McMullen as he enters the home. The taser deployed a second time, rendering it useless and Baugh held McMullen at gunpoint while he removed the taser probes and handcuffed him. McMullen’s grandmother was in the room, and his sister and grandfather were in another room.
McMullen explained in a later interview that he was uncomfortable talking to Baugh in the backyard alone and was going into the house to get a family member.
A TPD lieutenant, who is now a captain, reviewed the Response to Resistance (use of force) report and the body cam and noted in the internal affairs report, “I had several concerns after reviewing the documentation and body camera footage and declined to sign off until further review with the chief of police.”
The lieutenant provided the documentation and footage to then-Chief Stoney Lubins, who also had several concerns, the report states. Lubins instructed that lieutenant and then-Lt. Coursey to meet with the State Attorney’s Office to review the case and the criminal charge against McMullen.
Assistant State Attorney Chad Monty said his office would not be prosecuting McMullen, and he was released from jail the same day, he spent a little more than six days in jail.
Baugh was demoted from sergeant to officer earlier this year after a separate internal investigation found that he violated TPD’s pursuit policy. Two other officers were also punished in that incident.
Baugh has until Dec. 9 to appeal the decision to terminate him.
OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida—A body has been found during the search for a 73-year-old Eustis man who went missing in Kissimmee Thanksgiving day, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said Thursday afternoon.
Herman McClenton went for a walk in Secret Key Cove in Kissimmee, where he and his family were visiting for Thanksgiving, around 4 p.m. Thursday. McClenton, who suffers from dementia, Lopez said, did not return from his walk.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office has searched for McClenton for the past week, utilizing deputies on foot, bloodhounds and aviation. A bloodhound was used today to locate the body, Lopez said.
Herman McClenton was last seen around 4 p.m. Thanksgiving day in Kissimmee.
“During the search, a body of an unidentified black male was discovered in a swampy area. It’s approximately one mile from the residence where (McClenton) was last seen,” Lopez said.
The body was found off State Road 429 in an area that had not been searched until Thursday, along with clothes that matched what McClenton was last seen wearing. The area where the body was found is “very swampy” Lopez said and the water is chest-deep. He said OCSO is still treating this a missing person case involving a person who got lost, he said.
McClenton is the father of 13 children and OCSO spoke with his family Thursday, Lopez said, and deputies are awaiting a positive identification from the medical examiner’s office.
EUSTIS, Florida—The white powder sent to Eustis High School Monday that caused the school to be placed on lockdown was cornstarch, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri said.
A package was opened shortly before noon Monday and contained an unknown white powder later determined to be cornstarch, Capri said. EHS was placed on lockdown out of abundance of caution, and students and faculty were not in danger, Capri said.
“We are following protocol to ensure the safety and students and faculty,” Capri told Inside Lake Monday afternoon.
Eustis Fire Department and Lake EMS also responded to the scene.
EUSTIS, Florida—Eustis Police Department is investigating a suspicious package sent to Eustis High School, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake.
“Everything is under control concerning the safety of the students,” Capri said.
The package was opened shortly before noon Monday and contained an unknown white powder that will be sent to a lab for testing, Capri said. EHS was placed on lockdown, and students and faculty are not in danger, Capri said.
“We are following protocol to ensure the safety and students and faculty,” Capri said.
Eustis Fire Department and Lake EMS were also on scene and staging in the area. This is one of several incidents around Lake County Monday involving a suspicious package, Capri said. Inside Lake is working to get more information on those incidents.
EUSTIS, Florida—An intoxicated combative patient on her way to the hospital attacked an EMT, opened the side door of the ambulance, attacked him again as they both fell out on the grass on the side of the road, attacked his partner as she tried to help and kicked a Eustis Police officer in the face after she arrived at the hospital Thanksgiving night, according to an arrest affidavit.
Ashley Polston, 34, is facing three charges of battery on a first responder after EPD responded to help Lake EMS EMTs after Polston attacked a male EMT in the back of an ambulance, opened the door of the ambulance and the fight spilled out onto the side of the 1200 block of Lakeshore Drive as his partner pulled the ambulance over around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, the affidavit states.
The male EMT told police Polston began unbuckling her seatbelts on the way to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares; he told to her to keep them on for safety and Polston is alleged to have unbuckled the seatbelts, stood up and threw a punch at the EMT.
Ashley Polston PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
He blocked the punch and Polston opened the side door of the ambulance with her foot and as the EMT tried to exit, Polston grabbed him and they both fell into the grass, he told EPD. Polston attacked him again, swinging, punching and spitting as his female partner tried to help. The female EMT tried to secure Polston’s legs and Polston kicked her in the face, she told police. EPD then arrived on the scene and secured Polston in handcuffs and on a stretcher. She was transported to AdventHealth Waterman and when the EPD officer arrived at the hospital to assist, and Polston kicked him in the face as well, according to the affidavit.
Polston was released from the hospital and arrested for three counts of battery on a first responder. She was transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $15,000 bond.
APOPKA, Florida—A Eustis man was killed Saturday night after the 2000 Ford Focus he was driving was struck head-on by a 2017 Dodge Ram 1500, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 38-year-old Apopka man was driving the Ram eastbound on South Binion Road, also known as County Road 437, near Sheaf Road when he failed to maintain his lane entered the westbound lane and struck the Focus being driven by a 65-year-old Eustis man, shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said.
The impact caused the Ram to overturn on its right side and the driver was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. The Eustis man was transported to AdventHealth Apopka, where he was pronounced dead.
