A Leesburg man with more than 40 offenses on his license was arrested for driving without a valid license after police caught him operating an unregistered vehicle.
An officer observed a dark blue Lincoln Navigator on US Highway 441 at around 1:51 p.m. Wednesday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
The driver, 70-year-old Gary Stephen Klatka, stopped adjacent to the officer’s patrol car at the traffic signal just before the parking lot entrance of Rural King on 1715 Citrus Blvd., the report said.
The vehicle had an obscured expiration decal, prompting the officer to run it through a record check. The results indicated the registration tag was not assigned to the vehicle but was previously assigned to a 2003 Hyundai Elantra, according to the report.
Due to this, the officer initiated a traffic stop and spoke with Klatka, who advised he did not have a valid license. He also said he recently purchased the vehicle but did not have any paperwork, and the attached registration tag was provided by the seller, the report said.
A background check confirmed that Klatka’s license was not valid and that he was a habitual traffic offender. A review of his driver history revealed 43 suspensions, cancellations and revocations since 2020, according to the report.
Klatka was subsequently arrested on charges of driving while license suspended (habitual offender) and operating an unregistered motor vehicle. He was taken to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $2,500.