A homeless man in Leesburg who was arrested for trespassing at a Beacon College apartment complex was described as “catatonic” by correctional officers.
Police responded to Village Oasis, an apartment complex in Beacon College located at 422 N. 3rd Street, regarding a suspicious person, later identified as 30-year-old Derius Lashane Dabney, around 9 a.m. Thursday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
Upon arrival, officers spoke with a campus safety employee who works for Beacon College as security. Security advised that Dabney was at the apartment complex despite being previously trespassed from the property, the report said.
Officers met with Dabney and positively identified him, after which a check revealed that he was issued a trespass warning for the apartment complex the day before around 10:31 p.m. Dabney was subsequently arrested and taken to LPD for the booking process. He still had the trespass paperwork with him at the time of the arrest, the report said.
After the booking process, Dabney was transported to Lake County Jail where he was searched by a deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, according to a document from the LCSO Corrections Operations Division. Th deputy found two small clear plastic baggies in his left sock. These contained a whitish clear crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. Furthermore, officers decided to strip search Dabney due to his “catatonic” state coming into the facility but found no further narcotics.
Dabney was ultimately charged with trespass after warning and possession of methamphetamine. Bond was set at $3,500.
He has been arrested for trespassing several times in the past, including in July 2023 for hiding on a fenced property, in Sept. 2023 for hiding in the bushes of a woman’s property and in Oct. 2023 when he was found asleep under a patio couch. Prior to that, he was jailed for an alleged attack on a nurse at UF Health in Jan. 2022 and on drug charges in June 2023.
