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.
EUSTIS, Fla.—A baseball bat attack sent one man to the hospital by helicopter and another man to the Lake County Jail, late Sunday night, according to an arrest affidavit.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Waycross Avenue and Gables Drive, near Eustis around 10:30 p.m. Sunday after a witness reported she saw a man, later identified as Jamie Hoover Locklear, 41, strike another man in the head with a black metal baseball bat.
When deputies arrived, they found a man, who was not publicly identified, suffering from a “severe laceration” on his head, approximately 3 inches long, the affidavit states. EMS treated the man, and he was transported by air to Orlando Regional Medical Center as a trauma alert.
The witness told deputies she and Locklear exchanged words and she witnessed Locklear strike the victim with a bat. She described Locklear and provided the license plate number to a blue Dodge Durango Locklear left in.
Eustis Police Department officers located the SUV on South Mary Street and Locklear was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was transported to LCJ, where he is being held on no bond.
CLERMONT, Fla.—A Georgia man is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond after being accused of shooting his friend as they traveled on Florida’s Turnpike late Sunday night.
The Florida Highway Patrol asked for assistance from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office around 10:30 p.m. Sunday in reference to a man stopping vehicles and asking for help. Not long after, LCSO received a 911 call from an unnamed individual stating someone was banging on their door and asking for help in unincorporated Clermont, according to an arrest affidavit.
Deputies responded to the home and found Bounmy Xayavong, who told them he was traveling south on the Turnpike with his longtime friend, a man later identified as Sergio Villanueva. The pair began arguing about an ex-girlfriend and Villanueva shot him in the upper right thigh while he was driving, he told deputies. He stopped the vehicle, got out and began running and asking for help, according to the affidavit.
Villanueva, 26, then drove away and after Xayavong was unable to find help on the Turnpike, he jumped off the roadway and went down a hill to County Road 561 to look for help. Xayavong provided the wrong name and date of birth to deputies and “seemed to be withholding information from deputies,” the arresting deputy noted in the affidavit. Deputies searched him and he was identified by a Georgia Department of Defense paper that had his name on it. They also found a key fob with a plastic tag that had an Oregon license plate number on it. After running the tag, they found it belonged to a Hertz rental car.
Deputies canvassed the Turnpike in search of evidence and a crime scene and came up empty. About three hours later, at 1:30 a.m., the LCSO Communication Center received a 911 call from a male that said, “Oh yeah,” and hung up, Deputies went to the area on Lemongrass Road to canvass the area and found a dark-colored Chevrolet parked toward the back of a home under construction. Deputies called out and Villanueva, lying on his stomach with his arms stretched out, called out from inside the home for deputies to arrest him, according to the affidavit.
They took him into custody and searched him for the gun and he “spontaneously uttered” he threw the gun because he was frightened. He took deputies to the area where he said he threw it, but they were unable to find it, the affidavit states.
Villanueva was arrested for aggravated battery, trespassing on a construction site and tampering with evidence.
FRUITLAND PARK, Fla.—The man accused of shooting another man in unincorporated Fruitland Park Friday is now facing an attempted murder charge.
According to an arrest affidavit, Scott Hutcheson and Michael Robert Corkill, 39, got into an argument after Corkill grabbed Hutcheson’s drill while he was at a friend’s house working on a four-wheeler. Hutcheson told Corkill not to touch his things and Corkill reportedly said, “I’ve got something for your (expletive,)” and walked across the street to his home at 36751 Shadow Hill Drive, according to an arrest affidavit.
Corkill then stepped out of his home, stood in his driveway, pointed a black rifle at Hutcheson and shot him in the left forearm. He was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Corkhill retreated to his home and barricaded himself for nearly three hours until LCSO’s SWAT Team entered his home and took him into custody. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on no bond.
FRUITLAND PARK, Fla.—A man suspected of shooting another man in unincorporated Fruitland Park Friday is in custody, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. John Herrell.
Few details were released in the incident that began around 3 p.m. and ended nearly four hours later around 7 p.m. on Shadow Hill Drive near Fruitland Park. Herrell told Inside Lake the male suspect shot another man in the arm during an argument and refused to speak with deputies. The suspect, whose name has not been released, was transported to the Lake County Jail after being taken into custody; the victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
FRUITLAND PARK, Fla.—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is working to take a suspect into custody who allegedly shot another man Friday afternoon, according to LCSO Lt. John Herrell.
LCSO released few details Friday afternoon but did tell Inside Lake the male suspect shot another man in the arm and deputies had not been able to contact the suspected shooter at press time. The incident began as an argument and the victim has non-life-threatening injuries, Herrell said.
Witnesses told Inside Lake there is a large law enforcement presence on Shadow Hill Drive in unincorporated Fruitland Park.
LEESBURG, Fla.—A Leesburg man is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond after shooting another man in unincorporated Leesburg late Monday night.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a home on County Road 452 shortly before 11:30 p.m. Monday on a report of an argument between Brandon Saunders and Mike Ford, according to an arrest affidavit.
When deputies arrived, they found Ford lying on the ground suffering from two gunshot wounds and they began rendering aid to Ford, who was in and out of consciousness. He told deputies Saunders came after him and Ford “laid him out.” As he made his way back to his truck, Saunders began shooting at him.; Ford said he believed Saunders was trying to shoot him in the head. He was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center and is in stable condition, according to the affidavit.
While deputies were aiding Ford, Saunders came out of a tree line and “spontaneously” uttered he shot Ford, the affidavit states. Saunders, 41, was then searched and placed in the back of a patrol car.
A witness told deputies Ford came to the home upset and looking for his girlfriend and the witness was inside when the pair started arguing. The witness went outside, and Saunders handed her the gun, which she hid in the backyard. She gave deputies permission to enter the property and they located the gun. Two shell casings were also found at the scene. Ford’s girlfriend told deputies the couple had argued earlier and she went to the home on County Road 452 to stay with her friend.
Saunders, who was holding a beer can at the time of the incident and had the smell of alcohol on his breath, invoked his right to remain silent. Saunders is a three-time convicted felon and was arrested for attempted felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he remains on no bond.
CLERMONT, Fla.—One of the men arrested after a botched C-section killed Lyla the French bulldog in Clermont in 2021, is headed to prison after pleading no contest to numerous charges last week, according to Lake County Clerk of Court online records.
Frankie Huertas Rivera, 36, pleaded no contest Friday—exactly three years to the day Lyla lost her life. In 2021, Larry Colon, then 50, paid Rivera $650 to perform a C-section on Lyla in Colon’s living room and Colon’s daughter filmed the horrific surgery and posted it to TikTok Feb. 9, 2021.
According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, the video showed Colon holding Lyla down while Rivera cuts her open and she is seen squirming and shaking in pain as Rivera removes puppies from her. After the surgery Colon took Lyla — after she was already dead — to a local vet and an employee performed chest compressions on the French bulldog for 15 minutes in an attempt to save her life. Lyla was found with two dead puppies still inside her and was believed to have died from septic shock secondary to contamination and additional puppies left in her uterus.
The veterinarian told a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy Lyla and her two dead puppies “suffered unjust cruelty and suffering due to unethical medical services performed,” the affidavit states.
Colon was later arrested on a warrant for animal cruelty and Rivera was picked up in Hernando County for on a warrant for practicing veterinary medicine without a license, conspiracy to commit animal cruelty and seven counts of aggravated animal cruelty.
River pleaded no contest to all of his charges and was sentenced more than two years in prison, followed by five years of probation; he was also ordered not to have contact with animals and must take an eight-week class on animal cruelty with the Humane Society.
Update: Bernard Jeanty has been found in Volusia County.
SORRENTO, Fla.—The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man who was last seen Thursday at his home in Sorrento.
According to an LCSO social media post, Bernard Jeanty, 51, left his home sometime during the day in his black 2019 Nissan Pathfinder, along with his dog.
Jeanty is described as a black male, 5 feet 11 inches tall and approximately 150 to 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing pink sweatpants and a black shirt.
If you have information on Jeanty’s whereabouts, call LCSO Det. VanBuskirk at 352-343-9529 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
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