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Ocala
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Lake County man caught driving in Ocala without a license or tag

Santiago Ashtin Strickland

An Astor man was charged with driving an unregistered vehicle and without a license after being pulled over in Ocala for not having a license plate.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday, a Marion County sheriff’s deputy conducted a traffic stop along the 1200 block of East Highway 40 on a green Dodge Caravan with no tag attached to it. The driver – 25-year-old Santiago Ashtin Strickland – told the deputy he did not have a driver’s license and the vehicle was not registered, according to the sheriff’s office report.

Strickland said he bought the vehicle about two months ago and he planned to sell it. He said he knew his license was suspended but he decided to drive it anyway so he could sell it. A series of computer checks confirmed Strickland’s license was suspended in April for failure to pay traffic fines and that the vehicle was unregistered, the report said.

Strickland is being held in the Marion County Jail. No bond information was available, and he’s due to appear in Marion County Court on Dec. 11.