A 30-year-old Ocala man was arrested after he was caught prowling around a Belleview home on an unregistered motor scooter.
Belleview Police officers responded to a residence on SE Hames Road at around 6 p.m. Monday after receiving a call from the homeowner’s daughter, who said a neighbor had called her saying she believed someone was trying to break into her father’s home. She said she checked the cameras and saw a white man wearing dark clothes riding a black motorcycle at the location, according to the police report.
When the officers arrived, they found Leo Edward Oldham, of 3439 SE 93rd Place on the property. Oldham said he was at the location just sitting in the shade. He said he had ridden the scooter there to test drive it because he bought it earlier in the day and hadn’t had a chance to register it yet, the report said.
Officers noted in the report that the home is very secluded and does not provide vision easily around the property, according to the report.
The neighbor said she saw Oldham pass the house on the scooter, circle around and then come back. She said Oldham then started walking around the house and it looked like he was going to burglarize it, so she called the homeowner’s daughter. The neighbor said Oldham was at the property for at least 10 minutes before police arrived, the report said.
After being read his Miranda warning, Oldham admitted he didn’t purchase the scooter that day and had bought it from someone on Craigslist. When asked to show the correspondence between him and the seller, Oldham could not, according to the report.
Oldham told an officer there was a bill of sale at his home on the tall dresser in his bedroom. The officer went to Oldham’s home and asked his wife to find the bill of sale but she couldn’t. Oldham was unable to provide the name or initial of the person he got the scooter from or the date he bought it, and he couldn’t say what the bill of sale said, the report said.
Oldham was charged with loitering and prowling and possession of a scooter without a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). He was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he was released Tuesday on $2,500 bond.