A 38-year-old Leesburg man spent Sunday night in jail after being charged with illegally dumping more than 500 pounds of yard waste onto private property.
Jerry Curtis Mueller, of 10351 Summit Square Drive, was charged with a felony count of illegal dumping, along with a probation violation stemming from a meth possession case last year. He’s currently being held on $2,000 bond.
On March 30, a Lake County sheriff’s deputy responded to 36030 Esmeralda Ave. in Leesburg, where the property owner said he had arrived at around 3 p.m. and found trash bags full of freshly dumped yard waste that appeared to weigh more than 500 pounds. The property owner said when he checked his surveillance cameras, he saw a blue extended cab, older model Chevrolet truck pulling a dump trailer onto his property at around 10 a.m. that day, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The property owner said several white males got out of the vehicle and started throwing trash onto the ground. He said at one point, the vehicle pulled forward a few feet and the rest of the debris was dumped into a separate pile. The vehicle then left the property, the report said.
The deputy reviewed the surveillance footage and saw exactly what the property owner described. The truck appeared to be around a 2005 Chevrolet extended cab, blue in color, pulling a black dump trailer. The driver appeared to be a white man with a thick beard. The piles of debris appeared to weigh more than 500 pounds, according to the report.
The property owner said he never granted anyone permission to enter the property or dump any debris on his property. He said he wanted to pursue charges, the report said.
At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the deputy saw the truck from the video traveling north on County Road 473 and a white male with a thick beard driving. The deputy followed the truck a mile or two before catching up to it and conducting a traffic stop. The driver – later identified as Mueller – spontaneously said he was sorry for speeding. The deputy recognized Mueller as the driver of the truck when the illegal dumping occurred, according to the report.
The deputy told Mueller he was not stopped for speeding. When told of the illegal dumping complaint, Mueller immediately requested the deputy call the property owner so he could “make it right.” He apologized repeatedly but then became somewhat angry when told he was being placed under arrest. Mueller was taken to the Lake County Jail and his truck was turned over to a friend at his request, the report said.
Mueller is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court at 8:30 a.m. May 9.
