A counterfeit license plate led to the arrest of a Venezuelan man in Leesburg.
A Leesburg police officer was on traffic patrol Sunday afternoon near the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 441 and Wilco drive when the officer saw a Toyota sedan traveling south on U.S. Hwy. 441. The officer ran a plate check on the Toyota’s temporary plate which revealed no record in Florida. As the officer got closer to the car he could see that the plate had “Texas Buyer” on the tag. A check with the Texas authorities indicated the plate number was assigned to a 2016 Jeep.
The officer stopped the Toyota and made contact with the driver, 25-year-old Adrian Enrique Bello Carracedo. The officer used his cell phone to translate a request for Carracedo’s driver’s license as Carracedo did not speak English. He handed the officer a Venezuelan driver’s license.
A Spanish-speaking officer arrived to act as an interpreter for the officer who made the traffic stop. Carracedo told the officers that he had been in the United States since last year although the license showed it was issued on March 10 of this year. He told the officers that he bought the car in Belleview, and that it had the Texas plate on the car when he purchased it. He said he had been driving the car for the past five months, but a tag receipt he showed the officers had a April 3 issue date. When the officer scanned the GR code on the tag it showed it was issued from a fraudulent Texas DMV, site according to the police report. When the officer ran a check on the title to the vehicle it revealed it had not been registered in Florida or Texas. All of the documents provided to the police were determined to be fraudulent.
Carracedo was placed under arrest for possessing a counterfeit license plate and operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license. After processing at the Leesburg Police Station he was transported to the Lake County Jail where he was released after posting $2,500 bond.
