A Guatemalan immigrant is in the Lake County Jail after handing a state trooper a phony green card during a traffic stop on Florida’s Turnpike.
Edwin Roberto Jimenez-Diaz, 29, of 2109 Griffin Road, was charged Friday with possessing a forged driver’s license or ID card, operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, and driving with a suspended license.
Jimenez-Diaz was pulled over on the southbound entrance ramp from Highway 27 after a Florida Highway Patrol trooper observed him not wearing a seatbelt with a license tag missing and a taillight out on the trailer he was pulling.
Jimenez-Diaz told the trooper he did not have a driver’s license and provided a USA Permanent Resident Card that turned out to be fake. A records check showed Jimenez-Diaz has three Florida driver’s licenses with suspensions for DUI and failure to pay fines, according to the FHP report.
Jimenez was arrested and taken to the Lake County Jail, where he’s being held on $20,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on Sept. 19.
