A Weirsdale man was arrested last week after being pulled over in Summerfield for having a phony license plate on his pickup truck.
Robert Joseph Gibson, 40, of 4133 Marion County Road, was charged Nov. 24 with driving while license suspended (habitual offender) and failing to register a motor vehicle. A Marion County sheriff’s deputy stopped him at 10:20 p.m. on South U.S. Highway 441 after a license plate check showed the tag belonged on a Pontiac sedan with two registered owners whose licenses are suspended.
Gibson told a deputy he didn’t have his driver’s license on him and that the truck didn’t belong to him. He provided his identification information and a computer check revealed he has a suspended license with 14 prior driving while license suspended convictions and an active arrest warrant out of Sumter County for a probation violation, according to the sheriff’s office report.
A computer search of the truck’s identification number showed it is not registered and doesn’t have a license plate assigned to it. The titled owner said he sold the vehicle to Gibson two weeks ago and there was no tag attached to it when it was sold, the report said.
Gibson told the deputy he bought the truck “just like that” and denied attaching the unassigned tag to the vehicle. He was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he was being held Tuesday on $2,500 bond. He has a Dec. 23 date in Marion County Court.