CITRUS COUNTY, Florida—A 41-year-old Mount Dora man is dead after fleeing a traffic stop, striking stop sticks and crashing into a concrete wall early Saturday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Mount Dora man was driving a Jeep Cherokee westbound on State Road 44 near Colonade Street when he sped away from a traffic stop by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, FHP Sgt. Steve Gaskins said in a press release.
CCSO deputies deployed stop sticks around County Road 491, the Cherokee struck the stop sticks, continued fleeing, crossed a median and collided with a light post. The Cherokee then struck a concrete sign at the Crystal Oaks subdivision and caught fire. The driver, who was not identified by FHP, died at the scene, Gaskins said. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Florida—A Lake County man is in the Seminole County Jail after deputies say he robbed two banks Wednesday in under two hours—and it is not the first time he has been accused of the same crimes.
Duwane Edward Gilmore, who turns 36 years old in five days, is accused of attempting to rob SeaCoast Bank, 2695 West State Road 434 in Altamonte Springs just before 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. According to a probable cause statement, Gilmore entered the bank and handed a teller a note demanding money, he then said he wanted $10,000 and the grabbed at his waistband as if he had a gun and reportedly said, “You’re gonna make me.”
The teller ducked down and pushed a panic button and Gilmore left the scene with the note. He did not get away with any cash.
Just one hour and 25 minutes later Gilmore went to Bank of America, 5320 State Road 46, Sanford and passed a note to the teller, but before she could read it Gilmore demanded money, told her not to push any buttons and not to do anything stupid, according to the statement. The teller gave him more than $3,000 and he left the bank with the note and the money.
Still images taken from bank surveillance video Wednesday. PHOTOS: Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
Surveillance video at a nearby Publix showed Gilmore pulling into the parking lot in a 2014 Ford Escape and walking toward the Bank of America. A short time later the video shows Gilmore running from the area of Bank of America and leaving in the Ford Escape. Gilmore drives to Lake Forest Boulevard and the camera at the guard shacks captures clear video of the SUV’s tag.
During its investigation, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office tracked down the registered owner of the Escape and found she shares a child with Gilmore, and he matched the description of the suspect in several surveillance videos. Later Wednesday, SCSCO found the SUV at Microtel Inn & Suites, 9700 U.S. Highway 441, Leesburg and soon took Gilmore into custody. He was transported to the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford, where he is being held on $35,000 bond.
In 2014, Gilmore was accused of robbing a bank in Orange County and one in Seminole County. Gilmore was arrested for both of those crimes, but both of those cases were later dropped.
MOUNT DORA, Florida—Two people are in the Lake County Jail following a tussle with Mount Dora Police Department and a multi-agency pursuit across Lake County Friday.
Shortly after midnight, MDPD responded to Perkins, 17080 U.S. Highway 441, Mount Dora on a report of a verbal argument. Officers found a black Ford F-150 with two occupants inside and identified the pair as Larissa Molina, 22 of Franklin, North Carolina and Adrian Delgado, 22, of Kissimmee. Officers ran the VIN of the truck and found it was possibly stolen out of Orange County, according to Delgado’s arrest affidavit.
Delgado apparently had a tire iron in his hands and MDPD tried to take him into custody; details in the affidavit are very limited and it is unclear when Delgado armed himself with the tire iron. Delgado tried to get away and kept “slipping out” of an MDPD’s officer’s grip and another officer tased Delgado, striking him in the back. Delgado then fled northbound toward U.S. Highway 441 on foot, the affidavit states.
He ran west toward the Walmart parking lot nearby and was finally apprehended in the parking lot of First National Bank at the corner of Eudora Road and U.S. Highway 441. Delgado reportedly said he was scared because he was homeless and kept asking about Molina, the affidavit states.
He was placed in the back of a patrol unit, where he vomited and was taken to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, where he was medically cleared and then transported to the Lake County Jail.
While Delgado was fleeing on foot, Molina fled in the stolen truck and MDPD attempted to stop her but was not successful. A Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy was in the area of Perkins when he heard unintelligible radio traffic but “sounded in distress,” he noted in Molina’s arrest affidavit.
“I began responding to the call when I was informed a black F-150 had struck one of the officers in an attempt to get away and was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 441,” the deputy stated in the affidavit.
Molina, however, is not facing a charge of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, which would be standard if she struck the MDPD officer as she was fleeing.
The deputy spotted the truck at U.S. Highway 441 and Spring Harbor Boulevard and attempted to perform a traffic stop. Molina continued to flee northbound on U.S. Highway 441, making several U-turns, failed to yield to oncoming traffic and reached speeds over more than 100 miles per hour, the affidavit states.
Multiple agencies assisted including Eustis Police Department, Tavares Police Department and Fruitland Park Police Department; LCSO never lost sight of the truck as it traveled across the county. FPPD deployed stop sticks at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the truck struck them and continued to flee before coming to a final stop at Lagrande Boulevard and U.S. Highway 27 in The Villages. Molina was then taken into custody, according to the affidavit.
The pair is facing multiple charges; Molina was arrested for fleeing and eluding, no driver license, grand theft auto, resisting an officer without violence and loitering or prowling. She is being held on $14,000 bond. Delgado is facing charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, grand theft auto and loitering or prowling; he is being held on $13,500 bond.
MOUNT DORA, Florida—A man, believed to be drunk, went to Mount Dora Police Department to pick up a public records request Monday morning with his young son and was later arrested for DUI, according to an arrest affidavit.
Around 11:30 a.m. Monday, an MDPD officer responded to the department to assist a man with a public records request. When the officer arrived, Alexander Joseph Robillard, 35, was in his vehicle while his 7-year-old son waited in the police department lobby.
“As Alexander was walking towards the front door, he was unsteady on his feet and swaying his body from side to side while walking. He appeared to be unusually upset for no apparent reason and would only provide me with his first name, “Alex,” the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.
Robillard told the officer he was there to pick up public records he requested approximately two weeks prior and had the “odor of the impurities of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath, his face was flushed, his eyes were glassy, and his eyelids were droopy,” the affidavit states.
The officer explained the records department was closed due to the Juneteenth holiday and Robillard began recording the conversation with his phone, and stated the officer was not any help to him. He reportedly became belligerent and told the officer to “go “(expletive) myself,” the officer stated in the affidavit.
Robillard left and called dispatch and requested a supervisor but he did not wait for the supervisor to respond, according to the affidavit.
The officer provided a description of the man to an MDPD sergeant, and the sergeant said Robillard is “not law enforcement friendly” and two officers should respond to assist. The officer also found that Robillard has a suspended license for failure to submit in 2016.
Inside Lake reached out to the City of Mount Dora by email to ask why Robillard was allowed to leave with the child if the officer believed he was drunk, and Interim Chief Michael Gibson emailed this response.
“It is sometimes difficult to get the entire story off a probable cause affidavit. In this case, the officer responded to the lobby to meet with the male citizen regarding a public records request. Upon the officer’s arrival, the male’s son was in the lobby and the male was sitting in his vehicle. While meeting with the male, the officer did recognize that the male could be intoxicated. However, the encounter was not going well, and the male asked to speak with a supervisor. The officer requested a supervisor and then went to retrieve his patrol vehicle so he could have it near the lobby. When the officer went to get his vehicle, the male presumably changed his mind about meeting a supervisor, entered his vehicle and drove away,” Gibson said in the email.
MDPD canvassed the area and Robillard’s home and found his vehicle parked at Gilbert Park in downtown Mount Dora with Robillard sitting in the driver’s seat with the engine running, while the boy played at the park, the affidavit states.
Officers asked Robillard to step out of the vehicle and he refused to participate in field sobriety exercises and said he has not been drinking alcohol for over two months. Robillard was placed under arrest for DUI and taken into custody; and when officers searched his vehicle, they found a half-empty cup of liquid behind the driver’s seat that smelled like alcohol. Robillard had the same cup with him while he was inside the police department, the officer noted.
“After the male left, they began conducting an area check to find him. Once found, he was subsequently arrested,” Gibson said.
Robillard was transported to the Lake County Jail where he also refused a breath test. He was released Monday night on $2,000 bond.
LEESBURG, Florida—Three people were killed Wednesday morning in a crash that shut down U.S. Highway 441 for several hours, according to Leesburg Police Department.
A blue 2020 Ford Mustang being driven by a 77-year-old male of Mount Dora was southbound on U.S. Highway 441 near Sleepy Hollow Road when it rear-ended a 2023 Hyundai Tucson being driven by a 69-year-old woman, just before 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, LPD Capt. Joe Iozzi said in an email.
The Mustang then traveled over the center median into the northbound lanes where it struck a gray 2013 Hyundai Sonata being driven by a 42-year-old Umatilla man. A black 2012 Chevrolet Silverado then collided with the Sonata. The driver of the Mustang and the driver of the Sonata were both pronounced deceased on the scene; a passenger in the Sonata, a 66-year-old man, was transported to an area hospital, where he later died, Iozzi said.
PHOTO: Leesburg Fire Rescue
“Preliminary findings suggest the 2020 Ford Mustang was at fault in the crash, but a full investigation is currently being conducted,” Iozzi said.
Police are asking anyone with information to call the LPD Traffic Unit at 352-787-2121.
This is the second triple traffic fatality in Lake County in less than a week; two women and a man were killed Friday on State Road 33 near Clermont after the pickup truck they were in struck a semi and a dump truck head-on.
EUSTIS, Florida—Three teens, who are documented gang members and well-known to local law enforcement were arrested again last week, this time for burglarizing vehicles, according to several arrest affidavits.
On May 30, Eustis Police Department responded to a call about three suspicious males in black hoodies and masks on Beaumont Lane in the Arbor Hills neighborhood and found three males matching the description in the area of Waycross Avenue and Abrams Road around 3:30 a.m.
The trio, later identified as Gyrice Trayvon Foster, 18, Kristine Morell Morris, 15, and Artavious Jamarr Williams, 17, all of Eustis, tried to run but complied when an officer ordered them to the ground with his taser. The trio was searched and a wallet belonging to a victim on Gables Drive in the 44 Gables neighborhood was found on Morris, according to the affidavit.
Video surveillance later showed the teens entering another vehicle on Gables Drive and all three were wearing black latex gloves that were taken into evidence. At the time of the crime, Morris was also wanted for armed robbery and was taken into custody on a juvenile pickup order, along with his new crimes. Morris is also on probation and was equipped with a GPS ankle monitor when he was taken into custody. All three teens have prior convictions for theft, the affidavit states.
In the robbery case, Morris is accused of setting up a man who was trying to mentor him after he withdrew money from an ATM in downtown Eustis on Halloween 2022. The man picked Morris up and when he stopped at the ATM, Morris was chatting with, another documented gang member, who Inside Lake is not naming because he has not been charged with a crime. Morris asked the victim to pick that teen up at a home in Orange County and then they returned to Eustis, where they picked up a documented gang member, and then traveled to Lake Harris Cove Apartments in Leesburg, the site of another unrelated shooting late last month.
When they arrived at Lake Harris Cove, they picked up another male. Inside Lake is also not identifying that male because he has not yet been charged in the robbery incident. They drove back to Orange County and the victim thought one of the teens was picking up some clothes, but when he tried to reenter the vehicle, he was armed with a large rifle and the victim told him not to bring the rifle and he stayed in Orange County, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The group returned to Eustis and were in the area of Briarcliff Avenue and South Street where they picked up an unknown male. The victim exited the black GMC he was driving to “dap them up,” and the unknown male pushed away from the victim and drew a gun from his waistband and pointed at the victim and reportedly said, “Run your (expletive,)” which means “empty your pockets,” the victim told police. The victim was then robbed for the $200 he withdrew from the ATM earlier in the day, and all the teens fled the scene, the affidavit states.
Cell phone records and Instagram messages later backed up the victim’s story. The teens are documented members of “4wayy” a gang believed to be responsible for multiple shootings, grand theft auto reports and burglaries in Eustis.
The teens were all charged with burglary and petit theft in the May 30 Eustis vehicle burglaries.
UMATILLA, Florida—The young girl left in a sweltering hot van last summer for 1 hour and 22 minutes beat on the van’s windows and doors and honked the horn until she was rescued, and the adults in charge of her failed to call 9-1-1, according to the girl’s mom and a report obtained by Inside Lake.
The girl, who was three weeks shy of her 7th birthday when the incident occurred in June 2022, fell asleep on a field trip to the Umatilla Public Pool and the adults who were responsible for her care failed to notice she was in the van and failed to count the children when they arrived at the pool to an outside temperature of 90 degrees last summer, according to the report written by Umatilla Police Department.
Inside Lake is not naming the girl or her mother.
According to the report, the child was at a summer camp held by Dance Depot at its Mount Dora location June 22, 2022, when a group of 41 children and seven staff members made the trek to the pool in three different vehicles. Dance Depot Owner Jolene Coates, 51, told UPD when they arrived at the pool, she said they counted the children but did not walk the length of the van due to the back doors being open at the time. Coates said 41 children were in the count and another child that was not in their group must have been counted by accident. Coates was not driving the van the child was trapped in. Another employee—the van’s driver— told police during a later interview that a head count was conducted before they left the studio, but not after they arrived at the pool, contradicting the statement Coates made to police. She told police Coates usually conducts the head counts, but sometimes that can change, and she was just “so busy” that day she did not conduct a count. Inside Lake is not naming the employee because she has not been charged with a crime.
Coates told police in a second interview in July 2022 she did not have any medical training except a recently expired CPR certification and “mom skills.” She said she did everything she would do if it was one of her own children.
The day of the incident, numerous people heard honking coming from outside the pool, Coates went out to investigate and found the girl locked in the van and ran to get the keys to let her out, the report states. Coates told police the girl had been left in the van approximately 40 to 50 minutes, but surveillance video later showed the girl had actually been alone in the locked van for 82 minutes, close to 1.5 hours. The video shows the campers arriving and entering the pool at 1:42 p.m., and just before 3:03 p.m. Coates is seen walking from the pool area to the parking lot. One minute later Coates is seen running back to the pool area to retrieve the keys to the van and at 3:05 p.m. Coates is seen walking back to the pool area with the girl.
The video also showed the girl’s face was “extremely” red and the top half of her shirt was so soaked with sweat, it appeared to be a darker color than the bottom half, an officer noted in the report.
Coates said she removed the child from the van, took her in a bathroom, removed her bathing suit, put cold water on her pulse points and neck. She then had the girl sit in the shade and gave her a popsicle. Three lifeguards told UPD the girl was crying and one of them, a juvenile, said the girl was having trouble breathing.
Coates said about 5 minutes later the girl asked to get in the pool, and she swam with her friends the rest of the time she was at the pool.
Jolene Coates
When Inside Lake broke the story Wednesday, it garnered dozens of comments on social media and opinions and rumors started flying, including a rumor that the girl continued to attend the summer camp following the incident. The girl’s mom spoke to this reporter Thursday to set the record straight.
According to Mom, Coates did not inform her about the incident until she picked her daughter up that afternoon and she was not truthful.
“We were not immediately notified,” she said.
Mom said Coates did apologize and she could tell Coates was “torn about something.” Coates told her they would be working on new training to make sure there was a head count as soon as they got out of the van, and it was a new employee who did not follow procedure.
She said when a UPD officer called her the day after the incident she was shocked to find out her little girl had been in the van much longer than Coates portrayed.
“The thing that caught me off guard…is that the time frame did not match with what was shown on the surveillance video. It seemed like a quick in-and-out thing, not an extended amount of time.”
The girl returned to the camp the next day, but once UPD told Mom how long the girl had actually been trapped in the van, her father immediately went to the studio and picked her up and she never returned, Mom said.
“Because of the conversation we had with Jolene (Coates,) and we had entrusted her, and we knew of her reputation; it was an accident. And then once we got the report from the police and the witness statements, we realized we were lied to, I immediately called my husband, and he promptly went and got her out of there.”
People on social media also questioned why the child did not get out of the van on her own, “She was banging on the doors, she banged on the windows, she couldn’t open the doors, she couldn’t open the windows. Her hands, they were beet red, like the veins on her hands were bloodshot from banging on them and then she was able to get to the horn, thankfully.”
When Mom and Dad spoke with police the day after the incident, they pressed charges that day, Mom said, and the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) had already planned on picking up the charges. She said the SAO told them in August 2022, an arrest could take a long time, as much as a year or more and they could only charge one party and the office felt the owner was the most liable. It was nearly 11 months since the incident when the principal to child neglect warrant was finally issued, and it took another week for her to get arrested. She was arrested and released Monday on $2,000 bond.
The second grader does not have any lasting physical injuries, but the incident has taken an emotional toll on her, Mom said. Her parents have had to reevaluate how they do certain things, and they rearranged their schedules this summer so they can spend the summer with her, rather than enroll her in a summer camp. Mom told Inside Lake she has become a “helicopter mom” and no longer trusts anyone to watch the girl outside of family.
Mom said she would like to see Coates get the maximum punishment and accountability for her actions. “I want the most responsible outcome anyone would expect out of this. If this was their child, like anybody else, if this was their child, how would they feel?”
UMATILLA, Florida—The owner of a popular dance studio with locations in Umatilla and Mount Dora was arrested at her home in Altoona Monday for child neglect, according to Lake County Clerk of Court Records.
Jolene Amy Coates, 51, owner of Dance Depot was picked up on the warrant by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office stemming from an incident in June 2022. The warrant was a direct file from Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney William “Bill” Gladson’s office May 10.
According to the information filed in the warrant, Coates, “while being responsible for the welfare of the (undisclosed victim)” left a child unsupervised in a hot vehicle with temperatures above 90 degrees. The child’s name is redacted from one copy of the document, and Inside Lake is not releasing her name. It is unclear what relationship Coates had to the girl, who was 6 years old at the time.
Details in the public record are limited and Inside Lake was tipped off to the arrest after business hours Wednesday.
According to Coates’ arrest affidavit, she was arrested at her home in Altoona Monday afternoon and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $2,000 bond.
Dance Depot’s website lists Coates as the owner/director and states she teaches princess classes, combination classes and works with Revolution, the performance company. The studio also offers a summer camp, according to its website.
EUSTIS, Florida—A substitute teacher was arrested Friday for child abuse after letting a 7th grade student hit a vape pen, because she was just trying to fit in, according to an arrest affidavit.
The student told the Eustis Police Department school resource officer (SRO) he and his friend were talking in their last class period Tuesday when the friend made a comment about vaping and Jennifer Gaine Hale, 50, of Mount Dora said she had one, the affidavit states; Hale was substituting at Eustis Middle School and in charge of the class.
The boy walked up to her desk and Hale pulled out a multi-colored nicotine vape and asked him if he wanted to “hit it.” Hale told the boy not to tell anyone because she did not want to get into trouble, according to the affidavit. The boy hit the vape once and gave it back to Hale. Hale is alleged to have told him to be careful because there was a salt-like substance on it, but the boy did not know what it was.
Another student reported the incident to the school’s administration and the EMS principal questioned Hale on Wednesday while she was on campus substituting for another class. Hale reportedly admitted the misdeed and told the principal, “I was just trying to fit in.”
The principal escorted Hale off campus and told her not to return and reported the incident to Lake County Schools Human Resources and reported it to the SRO.
The following day, the SRO and the principal met with the boy’s mom, who was “very upset” and told the SRO she wanted to press charges, the affidavit states. Hale was arrested for child abuse at her home in Mount Dora Friday and booked into the Lake County Jail; she was released Sunday on $1,000 bond.
Hale is no longer employed by Lake County Schools, LCS Administrative Coordinator of Communications Sherri Owens told Inside Lake Monday morning.
TAVARES, Florida—Law enforcement and supporters will join forces for the fourth annual Lake County Back the Blue Walk at Wooton Park Saturday morning.
Scheduled for 9 a.m., this is one of many law enforcement events around Lake County held in May during Law Enforcement Appreciation Month. In its fourth year, the walk began in 2019 to show support for law enforcement during a time when the “defund the police” movement was making its way across the country, event organizer Shannon Cook told Inside Lake. Representatives from several law enforcement agencies and numerous public officials are expected to be in attendance.
“The good ones needed to know they were appreciated,” Cook said.
Cook has always had respect for law enforcement officers and the job they do, she said. Her close friend, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Wayne Koester, was killed in the line of duty Feb. 9, 2005. Koester, who was 33 at the time, and two other deputies were ambushed while responding to a domestic violence call. All three deputies were shot, and Koester succumbed to his injuries; the other two deputies recovered. Jason Wheeler was shot and paralyzed during his capture and convicted in Koester’s death. Cook was also close to Chris Daniels, who was serving as Lake County Sheriff when he was tragically killed in a charity bus race in 2006 on his birthday.
Shannon Cook shows off one of the many gifts she has for the law enforcement officers who attend the walk Saturday. PHOTO: Shannon Cook
Cook told Inside Lake it is important the community show its support for all of the good officers and those who were lost in the line of duty. Usually a one-woman show, Cook has some help this year from Wayne Koester’s brother, Victor Koester, Jolie Fowler, owner of The Car Doctor Automotive Specialist Inc., in Eustis, Lt. Kristin Thompson of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Nina Rosania, who is very active in the community, especially in her efforts helping out small businesses in Lake County.
Participants will meet a 9 a.m. at Wooton Park, 100 East Ruby Street, Tavares. The first stop will be the Lake County Administration Building, then a stop at the Tavares Public Safety Complex and the walk will end at Kalua Beach Bar with lunch. Donuts will be provided before the walk by Lake Tire & Auto in Tavares, and a hot dog lunch will be available at Kalua Beach Bar, provided by the restaurant and Duct-Man Mechanical LLC in Eustis.
