A 30-year-old Gainesville woman with a long criminal history was arrested in Ocala on Tuesday when she was caught behind the wheel of a vehicle that was reported stolen in Alachua County.
Andrea Rhona Johnson, formerly of Ocala, was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and a fifth offense of driving while license suspended or revoked. It was her 13th arrest since 2007, according to Marion County Jail records, which showed she was released March 8 after a 10-month stint for driving with a suspended or revoked license, battery and possession of MDMA, a drug otherwise known as Molly or Ecstasy.
Ocala Police were alerted to the stolen 2006 Saturn traveling west on NW 10th Street. The vehicle turned south onto NW 27th Avenue, where two units conducted a felony traffic stop in the 400 block. An officer instructed the driver, later identified as Johnson, to throw her keys out the window, exit the vehicle and step backwards towards her. Johnson was placed in handcuffs and secured in the rear of a patrol vehicle, according to the OPD report.
Two passengers – one male and one female – also were detained and then released after it was determined neither were involved in the case. An officer contacted Alachua County authorities and learned that Johnson had been listed as the suspect in the theft, according to the report.
A check of the Driver and Vehicle Information Database showed that Johnson has four previous convictions for driving with a suspended or revoked license. She was taken to the Marion County Jail, where she’s being held on $4,000 bond. Her next date in Marion County Court is scheduled for May 7.