A Leesburg teen violated his community control after allegedly throwing rocks at his neighbor’s house and refusing to listen to his mother.
A deputy responded to a Leesburg residence regarding a verbal dispute involving a weapon around 7:42 p.m. Thursday, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Prior to the deputy’s arrival, the mother of a 14-year-old boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, advised that her son got into a verbal altercation with neighbors across the street, and a firearm was pointed at him. While on the recorded line, she stated that the juvenile was refusing to go back inside during the incident, contrary to her commands and causing the situation to escalate, the report said.
Once at the scene, the deputy spoke with a male who advised that he was sitting outside when he saw the juvenile standing at the south end of his driveway throwing rocks toward his residence, striking the vehicles in the driveway. He also found a battery in the driveway that he believed was thrown there by the juvenile. The report noted that there was no damage caused to the vehicles by the items the juvenile.
When asked about firearm use, he advised that nobody in the residence owned a firearm, and no firearm was brandished during the incident, the report said.
The deputy then interviewed the juvenile. He stated that he was refusing to come inside because the neighbors were talking about him, and he wanted to hear what was being said. He was advised of his rights but declined to answer questions, the report said.
The last person spoken to was another neighbor who had a surveillance camera facing the incident location. She was able to find a clip of the juvenile standing on the driveway of his residence throwing an unknown object toward his neighbor’s address, the report said.
The report noted that the juvenile was placed on house arrest with an ankle monitoring device through the Department of Juvenile Justice and was on community control for the following charges: burglary of a structure, criminal mischief, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with an electric monitoring device.
The deputy contacted a DJJ Circuit 5 Operations Coordinator who advised that one of the agreements of the juvenile’s release was to abide by reasonable commands given to him by his mother. She noted that if his mother were to give him a reasonable command that he did not abide, he would be in violation, the report said.
Due to the circumstances, the juvenile was taken into custody and transported to Lake County Jail without incident. Brandishing of a weapon during the incident was unfounded at the time, the report said.