A Fruitland Park man was arrested after allegedly shutting off his neighborhood’s water pump and stealing related documents.
A deputy on patrol saw an object be tossed from a silver pickup truck into a neighboring yard near Woods Drive and Williams Street in Fruitland Park at 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The husband of 41-year-old Adam Christopher Oliveras got out to retrieve the item, at which point the deputy talked to him.
The husband advised that Oliveras had thrown the garage door opener from inside the vehicle during a verbal argument. Oliveras had also threatened him with acts of violence. Around this time, the deputy observed Oliveras try to leave the scene with two bags. He was subsequently detained pending an investigation into the domestic dispute, the report said.
The report noted that deputies had responded to the neighborhood regarding a burglary on Bair Avenue. The neighborhood’s water pump, which provided water to 84 homes in the area, had been broken into and shut off.
When speaking to a utilities worker, the deputy learned he noticed the gate to the water pump had been left open. All the pumps had been shut off, and some wiring had been removed from the inside. He intended to speak with the LCSO about the total cost for houses being without service and repairs that needed to be made, the report said.
During the interview with Oliveras’s huband, he stated his spouse tended to steal property while under the influence of narcotics. Oliveras frequently called the items inside one of the bags in his possession his “evidence,” the report said.
The deputy then asked if Oliveras had brought back any unusual items, to which the husband allowed him to watch as he opened containers inside their residence. He began with a drawer on Oliveras’s side of the bed, revealing a first aid kit the husband had collected. He also opened the bag from Oliveras, which contained stolen documents from a nearby water pump, log books and other information, the report said.
Oliveras was arrested on charges of tampering with utilities and petit theft of utilities. The California native was booked at Lake County Jail with bond set at $19,000.