A Summerfield man was jailed Monday night after a Marion County sheriff’s deputy discovered the vehicle he was driving had been reported stolen.
The deputy spotted a silver Jeep, which was being driven by 36-year-old Jeffrey Nathan Towne, traveling in the 10800 block of SE 132nd Place. After discovering that it had been reported stolen in Leesburg, the deputy followed the vehicle until it pulled into a residence located on S.E. 127th Street.
Deputies then performed a felony stop on the vehicle and Towne was detained in a patrol vehicle. He told deputies the vehicle belonged to his mother and she knew he was driving it. A deputy told Towne that it had been reported stolen and he claimed “that was not possible.” Deputies also asked Towne for his driver’s license and he said he didn’t have one because it was suspended, the report says.
Records showed that Towne’s license had been suspended nine times, with the latest being on June 17 for a violation regarding possession of a controlled substance. The Leesburg Police Department confirmed the vehicle was stolen from the agency on Sunday and Towne was the suspect in the case, the report says.
After being read his rights, Towne refused to speak with deputies. He was then placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail.
Towne, was lives at 15100 SE 47th Ave. in Summerfield, was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and driving while license suspended (first offense). He was being held on $6,000 bond and is due in court Aug. 25 at 9 a.m.
Towne also was arrested in December – on his birthday – while loitering in front of a Sumter County fire station while charging his phone. Sumter County sheriff’s deputies made contact with Towne and when he removed his Florida identification card, they saw a cut straw containing a brown powdery substance and a folded piece of paper “consistent with packaged illicit drugs.”
Towne was placed under arrest and on the way to the Sumter County Detention Center, he stated that it was “ridiculous that he was being arrested because he just does drugs and there are pedophiles running free,” a report says.