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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Leesburg man jailed on drug, battery and weapons charges

A 21-year-old Leesburg man was arrested on drug, battery and weapons charges after a violent altercation with the pregnant mother of his child.

Willie E. J. Caruthers
Willie E. J. Caruthers

Willie E. J. Caruthers, of 1120 Baker St., was charged with domestic battery on a pregnant victim, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (domestic), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A Leesburg Police officer responded Sunday morning to a report of a weapons complaint at a home on North Shore Drive. The operator at the communications center informed the officer that a man wearing all white clothing – later identified as Caruthers – had struck the victim in the head with a handgun and was walking westbound on North Shore Drive carrying a white trash bag, according to the police report.

The officer found Caruthers sitting at a business on North 14th Street and ordered him to drop the trash bag, but Caruthers refused and became upset. After multiple requests, Caruthers dropped the bag and was detained. He said there was a “gun” inside the bag but it didn’t belong to him, the report said.

Caruthers told the officer he was walking from the victim’s resident. He said he had been at her home to retrieve items that belonged to him, which he said were three trash bags containing miscellaneous clothes. Caruthers said while he was retrieving the items, he got into a verbal disagreement with the victim over their previous relationship issues. He said when the argument started to escalate, he grabbed one of the bags and left the residence, according to the report.

Caruthers said he left the victim’s residence and approached her neighbor and asked to borrow his cell phone so he could call for a ride. He said he called his girlfriend and she was on his way to pick him up. While the officer was speaking with Caruthers, the communications center informed him that Caruthers has five prior felony convictions, the report said.

The victim told the officer she woke up at around 9:05 a.m. due to hearing the door handle to the side door being manipulated. She said Caruthers pried open the door by using a screwdriver and entered the home. The victim said she demanded Caruthers leave the residence, but he refused, according to the report.

The victim said Caruthers then began to yell and cuss at her. She said he was upset because he believes she was the reason he went to jail earlier in the year. The victim said while they were arguing, Caruthers reached into his pocket with his right hand and pulled out a black handgun and held it against his hip. She said when Caruthers pulled the gun out, she told him she was done dealing with this again and pushed him out of the way and tried to escape the residence, the report said.

The victim said when she pushed Caruthers out of the way, he struck her in the back of her head with the barrel of the handgun. She said she immediately left the residence and drove to the Wawa store at 1400 W. North Blvd, according to the report.

After about 20 minutes, the victim returned to the residence and found Caruthers there with his girlfriend in the front yard. She said she pulled a tire iron from her vehicle told them she would strike his girlfriend’s car windows if they didn’t leave her property. The victim said the girlfriend drove off while Caruthers started walking westbound on North Shore Drive. She said while Caruthers was walking away, he pointed his handgun at her and said he would shoot her, the report said.

The victim said she has a child with Caruthers and is also pregnant with his child. The officer observed a lump on the back of her head with a one-inch laceration, along with a 2.5-inch laceration on her right thigh above her knee, according to the report.

Another officer searched the trash bag Caruthers was holding and found a black Glock .380 handgun with one round inside the chamber, a handgun magazine with nine rounds loaded inside it, a clear zip-lock bag that contained multiple clear baggies with a white powdery substance inside of it, $4,077 in cash, miscellaneous clothes, a night vision goggles mount, an MS-600 digital pocket scale, two phone charging cords, miscellaneous weapons cleaning kits, miscellaneous paperwork, and three zip-up pouches, the report said.

The white powdery substance in the clear baggies weighed 62.2 grams and tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the report.

A third officer spoke with the neighbor, who said Caruthers arrived at the victim’s home around 9:15 a.m. and the victim left shortly afterwards in her vehicle. He said after the victim left, Caruthers approached him and asked to borrow his cell phone. The witness said before Caruthers could use his cell phone, a red vehicle arrived at the victim’s residence, the report said.

The witness said as the red vehicle arrived, the victim returned to her residence and retrieved a metal object from her vehicle and chased Caruthers through the yard. He said while the victim was chasing Caruthers, the red car left the area. The victim then threw the metal object at Caruthers but did not make contact, according to the report.

The witness said the victim got back in her vehicle and drove towards Caruthers, who then left the victim’s property. He said the victim stopped her vehicle, the report said.

Caruthers was placed under arrest and taken to the Leesburg Police Department for booking and later taken to the Lake County Jail. He was released Monday on $53,000 bond and will appear in Lake County Court on May 17.

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