Facial tattoos led to a convict’s arrest in a 2021 truck theft.
The prisoner, 49-year-old Joseph R. Cates, had been scheduled for release this past week. Instead, he was transferred Tuesday from the Florida Department of Corrections to the Lake County Jail.
A Leesburg detective was investigating the theft of a red work trailer from a Leesburg man and a Fruitland Park detective had been investigating a truck theft from their cities in August 2021 and had obtained warrants for Cates’ arrest.
When the Fruitland Park detective issued a bulletin to surrounding police agencies regarding the stolen truck, he was contacted by a Marion County sheriff’s detective who said the truck was found by a deputy at the Ocala Forest Campground off of County Road 42. The truck had been pulling a red enclosed trailer. When the deputy stopped the truck, two men and a woman jumped out and fled into the woods. They were not found, nor identified that day. The truck had a plate that had been stolen from a Fruitland Park resident. When that man was contacted, he indicated he was not aware his plate had been stolen. Both the plate’s owner and an officer found that another plate had been put on his vehicle. That plate had been reported stolen out of Mount Dora, according to the Mount Dora Police Department.
The Marion County Sheriffs Office found latent fingerprints in the truck which identified Cates as a suspect. The Marion County detective viewed a security video from the campground which showed Cates running from the truck. Cates has distinctive tattoos on his face and head. The detective also had had previous contacts with Cates.
The Leesburg detective had been searching for the red utility trailer since it had been reported stolen by the owner in 2021. Based on the information obtained by the law enforcement agencies, both Leesburg and Fruitland Park detectives obtained arrest warrants for Cates who had been sentenced to prison on a drug and fleeing charge in September 2021. A hold on Cates’ release was filed and Cates will be held without bond until the Lake County charges are prosecuted. He has an extensive criminal record.
