An Ocala man with 19 previous arrests, including one earlier this year for grand theft auto, was jailed again after being caught behind the wheel of a stolen pickup truck.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded Sunday night to a home on NW 22nd Avenue after Ocala Police located the black Dodge truck. The OPD officer told the deputy she was on the lookout for the vehicle when she observed it at the intersection of NW 7th Street and NW 22nd Avenue. She followed the vehicle until it pulled into the driveway of the residence, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The officer and an OPD sergeant told the driver – Stephane Lee Felton, 46, of 3351 S. Pine Ave. – to turn off the engine and step out of the vehicle, and Felton came out with the keys in his hand. Felton was detained until the deputy arrived, the report said.
Felton told the deputy he had been given permission to use the vehicle for a couple hours at around 5 a.m. Sunday and that he didn’t call the victim to say he was in possession of the vehicle beyond the agreed-upon return time, according to the report.
Felton was arrested in March and spent nearly a month in the Marion County Jail on charges of battery and theft of a motor vehicle. He was also charged with auto theft in 2010 and 2012, according to jail records.
Felton was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and taken to jail, where he was being held Tuesday on $3,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on July 30.