A sex offender in Fruitland Park was hospitalized with a K-9 bite after being apprehended for a warrant.
Justin Lee Freeman, 36, was found guilty of lewd or lascivious exhibition in the presence of an elderly or disabled person on Feb. 21, 2019, in Lake County, according to the Florida Sex Offender Registry. As such, he is required to register as a sexual offender.
However, an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office indicated that a warrant was filed for his arrest due to a failure to register every six months. A deputy responded to his home at 35318 Lake Josephine Dr., Fruitland Park, on Monday afternoon to serve this felony warrant. Prior to arrival, dispatch advised that he was hiding under the residence.
The deputy approached the home and found a young male crouched next to the residence, a trailer. He was talking to someone underneath, and although the deputy could not hear the conversation entirely, he heard a voice respond. Announcements were then made for Freeman to step out, the report said.
Freeman did not answer, and a K-9 was deployed to apprehend him. He was subsequently taken to UF Health Leesburg Hospital, located at 600 E Dixie Ave., Leesburg, for evaluation of a bite he received from the K-9, the report said.
Freeman was arrested later that afternoon on charges of sex offender registration violation and resisting without violence. He was booked at the Lake County Jail with bond set at $11,000.
He has a long history of arrests, including in July 2018 for exposing himself to an 80-year-old greeter at Walmart. He was arrested at his parents’ home in Feb. 2018, for breaking into his parents’ home in late Nov. 2017, looking through windows in early Nov. 2017, for an altercation at Oakwood Motel in July 2017, stealing a bottle of whiskey in Sept. 2016, and fighting with his girlfriend in April 2015.