Umatilla

UMATILLA, Florida—A Umatilla man who was already in the Lake County Jail on theft charges was served with another warrant accusing him of stealing $20,000 worth of copper materials from Duke Energy and then selling them to a recycling plant, according to an arrest affidavit.

Luchious Myron Clayton, 64, of Umatilla, was arrested April 2 at his home on a warrant accusing of him of burglary and grand theft—and the victim was his cousin. In that case, the victim, Clayton’s cousin, left for work on March 28, and got an alert from his home surveillance system. He began watching the live feed and observed Clayton in his home going through a dresser drawer and in his living room. He then exited the residence. The victim, who is also Clayton’s neighbor, returned home and found $130 missing, according to a Lake County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit.

Clayton was picked up on the warrant on April 2 and was being held on $12,000 bond. While he was jail, LCSO served him with another warrant Monday, accusing him of the theft from Duke Energy.

Om March 21, LCSO responded to a Duke Energy substation on Mills Street in Umatilla and a Duke employee told a deputy that “Luchious” rides his bicycle near the substation and cut the 6-foot barbed wire and chain link fence, causing about $1,500 in damage to the fence. He said Clayton stole copper material and copper connection materials, valued at around $20,000.

The employee went to a recycling plant, located just a mile from the substation and spoke with the owner, he said, a black male by the name of “Luchious” had been selling him copper wire and provided LCSO with a copy of Clayton’s Florida Identification card. The owner and his wife said Clayton visits frequently and they have refused to buy non-insulated wire from him in the past.

Clayton was questioned at LCJ and told LCSO he committed the theft by himself; he is facing charges of burglary, grand theft and dealing in stolen property, in addition to the charges he is facing in his cousin’s case. Clayton is being held at the Lake County Jail on $27,000 bond.

UMATILLA, Florida—A Umatilla woman was arrested by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office after being found naked in a whirlpool tub by the owner of the home around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The victim told LCSO she awoke to find lights on in her kitchen and heard her whirlpool tub running at her home on Lake Smith Road in unincorporated Umatilla early Tuesday morning. She opened the door to her bathroom and found Amanda Nicole Toler, 32, naked, inside her bathtub. The victim asked Toler who she was and what she was doing and she reportedly said, “I’m Amanda, I have nowhere else to go. You can call the cops.”

The victim left the naked Toler in the bathroom and did just that, according to the affidavit. When LCSO arrived, Toler was still in the tub bathing and told a deputy, “I’m waiting to die,” the affidavit states. Toler said she knocked and entered the home through a window when she did not get an answer and had recently taken cocaine, but she did not how much. She did not know the homeowners, she told LCSO.

Toler was taken into custody and arrested for burglary of an occupied dwelling. She was transported to the Lake County Jail, where she is being held on $15,000 bond. Toler has been arrested four times in Lake County since 2020 for drug possession, battery and failure to appear, according to LCSO online records. 

UMATILLA, Florida—A man out on bond for molesting a 5-year-old girl in 2020, was arrested Saturday after firing two shots near a woman who did not want him around her daughter, according to an arrest affidavit.

Around 9 p.m. Saturday, Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Tropical Whisper mobile home park in unincorporated Umatilla in reference to a battery. The victim told LCSO she went to her neighbor’s house to retrieve her daughter, who was with Joshua “Boops” Leon Redmond Dudley, 28, and his girlfriend. Dudley is facing several sex-related charges involving a minor;  the victim’s daughter’s age is not listed in the affidavit.

The woman said Dudley began arguing with her and grabbed her by the hair and threw her down, the affidavit states. Dudley then pulled out a gun and the victim yelled at him to let her go. Dudley fired a shot into the air, while holding the victim down and then fired a second shot next to her head. The victim begged Dudley not to kill her because of her daughter and he reportedly said, “You should have thought about that first.”

Dudley then let her go and fled the area and was later apprehended near the now-defunct Pine Meadows Golf Course. He was arrested on two counts of aggravated battery with a weapon, discharging a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm.  The arresting deputy requested Dudley be held on no bond due to his unresolved lewd and lascivious molestation case.

In that case, Dudley was arrested after a woman called Leesburg Police on Aug. 25, 2020, and said LPD needed to respond quickly before she killed Dudley. The witness told police Dudley molested a young girl and she did not understand why he would do that. Police questioned Dudley who reportedly uttered, “Man I (expletive) up and going away for a long time I shouldn’t have done that,” and then said, “I don’t know why I did that there is something wrong with me,” the affidavit in that case states.

Dudley told police the victim — who was only 5 years old — began talking “sexual” to him and asked him to go to the laundry room with him.  A sex act took place in the laundry room for about five minutes until the witness entered the room, according to the affidavit.  

Dudley’s next court appearance in that case is scheduled for March 29.