A sex offender suspected of drunk driving crashed his truck into a wooded area along the north side of County Road 48 in Leesburg late Saturday night.
A witness saw the crash and called 911. When Leesburg officers arrived at the accident site they found 61-year-old Paul David Finney standing next to his truck which had struck multiple trees. Finney admitted to driving the truck when it crashed. The officers noted that he had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and had urinated on himself. He told the officers that he had dropped his cell phone and went off the road as he tried to pick it up, according to the arrest report.
Finney performed poorly on the standardized field sobriety exercises and was placed under arrest. He gave two breath samples at the Lake County Jail which indicated a blood alcohol level of .114 and .102.
A records check showed that Finney had been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for a 2004 conviction of lewd and lascivious battery to a person 12 to 16 years of age . He was released from the Florida Department of Corrections in May of 2018 and currently is registered as living in Lakeland.
The Charleston, W.Va. native was booked at the Lake County Jail where bond was set at $1,000. He was also issued a ticket for carless driving.
