A 14-year-old Clermont boy caught with a stolen handgun said he found it at a local park.
The juvenile was a passenger in a vehicle that a Lake County sheriff’s deputy observed Friday night stopped in the middle of Scrub Jay Lane in Clermont. The deputy ran the vehicle’s license tag number and was notified the registered owner’s license was suspended. The deputy conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of Scrub Jay Lane and County Road 561, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The deputy immediately smelled the odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. The juvenile’s older sister, who was driving, said she did not have a marijuana card and had just smoked in the vehicle. Both the juvenile and his sister said there was nothing illegal in the vehicle except some marijuana roaches and some marijuana shake, the report said.
A search of the vehicle turned up a loaded .40-caliber Sig Sauer P229 handgun on the passenger-side floorboard, which put it directly next to the juvenile’s left foot. The gun had a loaded magazine with one round in the changer. A small bag of a green leafy substance, which tested positive for marijuana, was in the cup holder between the juvenile and the driver. The deputy also found a glass pipe, a glass bong and a tray containing ground-up marijuana, according to the report.
Upon running the serial number, the deputy discovered the gun was stolen in a car burglary in Lake County in 2018. The juvenile said he found the handgun in the woods at a local park, the report said.
The juvenile was charged with grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was taken to the Marion County Jail, where no bond or court information was available.
