A lost Harley-Davidson backpack and its contents led to a Leesburg man’s arrest by Lake County sheriff’s deputies.
A Leesburg police officer had found a black Harley-Davidson backpack at the Summit Plaza located on 14th Street. The backpack contained a file that held a copy of a driver’s license and other papers that belong to a Leesburg resident who resides in the 1700 block of Indian Trail. The backpack also contained some documents, letters and titles with the name of 55-year-old Vatche Garabed.
The deputy made contact with the man who had first been contacted by the Leesburg Police Department. That man told the deputy that he was in the process of moving and the last time he had seen the file containing the document, it had been on his kitchen table. He said that the Harley-Davidson backpack did not belong to him.
Next the deputy went across the street to the residence where Garabed resides. When Garabed saw the backpack he spontaneously uttered, “How in the hell did he get my backpack?,” according to the deputy’s report. The deputy asked if all the contents in the backpack belonged to Garabed. He claimed they did. When asked about the titles and copies of his neighbor’s driver’s license he said that his sister worked for the “State Department” and that she had produced the titles for him, according to the arrest report.
When Garabed was placed in custody he changed his story and told the deputy that he had located the titles in a file box in front of his neighbor’s house which had been put out for trash pickup.
Garabed was booked at the Lake County Jail for the offenses of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and petit theft. Bond was set at $6,000 which was posted the next day.
Garabed was also arrested in 2021 when he was caught riding a motorcycle with a suspended license.
