A Leesburg teenager’s suspicious behavior led to her arrest with a stolen vehicle.
A Leesburg police officer was on patrol on Sterns Drive last week when he saw a black VW Jetta driven by a young woman, later identified as 18-year-old Ashely Nicole Page, back into a driveway so that the officer could not see the vehicle’s license plate. The officer noted in his report that the Jetta was blocking a sidewalk in violation of Florida law.
The officer saw Page get out of the car and run into a house located at 1631 Sterns Drive.
The officer approached the car and radioed in the plate number which came back as stolen out of Tampa. A piece of paper had been placed on the dash to obscure the vehicle identification number.
Additional officers responded to the scene and while one was talking to the property owner, Page attempted to leave through a backdoor. When she saw an officer in the backyard, she went back into the house and refused to come out. Ten minutes later she met with the officers in the front yard. She told them that she had bought the car from a man named “Frank” in Tampa for $5,000.
A K-9 officer’s dog alerted on the Jetta. As the officers searched the car they called in the VIN to dispatch which confirmed the Jetta had been reported stolen in Tampa. When questioned, Page said she had been in Tampa with her “baby daddy” when they acquired the car. She refused to name the “baby daddy.”
Page was arrested for theft of a motor vehicle and tag. After processing at the Leesburg Police Department she was booked at the Lake County Jail. Bond was set at $3,000.
