A 51-year-old Leesburg man who was let go during a traffic stop was arrested a short time later when police realized there was an active warrant out for him.
Douglas Gilbert Karst, of 11550 Fairmont Ave., had drug charges added when officers found two controlled substances among his personal possessions during a routine pre-arrest search.
Karst was pulled over around 1:30 a.m. Saturday on State Road 500 near Lake Shore Boulevard after a Tavares police officer ran his license tag and it came back showing the vehicle’s registered owner had a suspended license. Karst told the officer the registered owner was his mother and not him. The officer ran Karst’s license to make sure it was valid, according to the police report.
Due to high call volume on the radio, the officer let Karst go when his license checked out as valid. Just as Karst was driving away, the Lake County Communications Center provided information that Karst had an active Lake County warrant for defrauding a pawnbroker of less than $300. The officer caught up with Karst at the Villa Lagoon Motel, where he was walking back towards his vehicle, the report said.
The officer stopped Karst before he got back in the car. After confirming the warrant was active, Karst was placed under arrest. Before placing Karst in the patrol vehicle, the officer searched him and found seven pink pills and three blue pills that turned out to be amphetamine and diazepam, according to the report.
In addition to the warrant, Karst was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and taken to the Lake County Jail, where he was released Saturday afternoon on $9,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on July 25.
