A Leesburg man and woman with extensive criminal records were arrested last week after security footage showed them towing away a woman’s electric scooter with a bicycle while she was inside a social club for military veterans and first responders.
Jonathan Patrick Lucas, 37, and 21-year-old Debra Cheyenne Ramsey were each charged with grand theft ($750 to $5,000) after the incident, which happened Wednesday at the Military Fire Police Support Association, also known as The Warehouse, located at 312 S. 2nd Street.
Lake County jail records show Ramsey with nine prior arrests, including one in December for stealing a vehicle. Lucas has seven prior arrests, including one in June 2022 for swapping tags on items at Walmart and another in August 2022 when he was stopped for having a tail light out and charged with driving with a suspended license. His girlfriend was charged with drug possession during the same traffic stop.
The victim told a Leesburg police officer her black and red Evercross scooter was parked unsecure in front of the building at about 5:45 p.m. She said the $800 scooter was no longer there when she stepped back outside at about 7 p.m. The victim said she still had the keys, according to the LPD arrest report.
An employee showed the officer footage from the club’s security cameras. At about 6:29 p.m., Lucas was seen riding past the location on a bicycle while pulling a bike trailer carrying Ramsey. The pair turned around and Ramsey dismounted the trailer and took the victim’s scooter while Lucas waited for her to load it onto the trailer. The suspects headed northbound on South 2nd Street, the report said.
The next evening, the officer was dispatched to the area of 6th Street and Dixie Avenue. The victim told the officer she was able to find Lucas on social media, and that he admitted to taking the scooter. The victim said Lucas wanted to meet her at her residence to return it, according to the report.
The officer arrived and contacted both suspects while were speaking with the victim outside her residence. The bicycle, trailer and scooter were all identified as the ones from the surveillance video, as were Lucas and Ramsey. Lucas told the officer Ramsey had nothing to do with the incident and that he told her what to do, the report said.
Despite this, both suspects were arrested and taken to the Lake County Jail, where bond for each was set at $2,000. As of Sunday evening, Lucas had bonded out, but Ramsey remained behind bars.
