A Leesburg deer hunter has been arrested after entering posted private property.
A Lake County sheriff’s deputy was sent last month to meet with a property owner in rural Lake County regarding an armed trespasser on the man’s wooded property on Dec. 2. The property owner told the deputy that his game cameras captured a photograph of a man armed with some type of rifle or shotgun on his property shortly after midnight. The property owner posted the pictures of the hunter on social media in an attempt to identify the intruder, but was unsuccessful in determining his identity .
When the property owner went to the woods on Dec. 2, he discovered that two of his game cameras had been stolen.
A detective was assigned to the case and he received another report of the suspected trespasser caught on video on Dec. 6. The property owner put up a new game camera which filmed the suspect on the property. The detective, who had lived in the area for more than 30 years, recognized the suspect as 22-year-old Robert Thomas Mallory who lives near the woods and hunts on the backside of his grandfather’s property which adjoined the property with the game cameras.
The detective met with Mallory, who he has known for at least 10 years, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the detective. The detective told Mallory he had seen the video of him on the other man’s fenced and posted property. Mallory admitted to being on the property with his pump-action shotgun on two occasions and told the detective he was scouting game trails to see where deer crossed onto his grandfather’s property. He told the detective that he took only one of the game cameras when he realized it had taken his picture.
The detective later obtained an arrest warrant.
Mallory turned himself in at the Lake County Jail on Dec. 29 where he was charged with two counts of trespassing while armed and one count of theft. He was released after posting $3,000 bond.
Trespassing while armed is a third degree felony and if convicted of a felony Mallory will be barred by law from owning a firearm.
