A Leesburg man who was arrested in February 2018 for attempting to walk out of Kohl’s wearing a pair of stolen Nikes is back behind bars in the Marion County Jail after being caught driving a stolen vehicle.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy stopped a maroon Honda CRV on Wednesday in the 14200 block of S.E. 91st Avenue and detained the driver, 26-year-old Trevor James Wheeler, and his three passengers. After being read his rights, Wheeler said he had “grabbed a set of keys” off the counter at a residence he had gone to with this grandmother. He said he then exited the residence and took the vehicle, which had been reported stolen in Leesburg.
Wheeler told deputies that uses “Ice” and “there might be some” between the driver’s seat and the center console. A search of the vehicle revealed a black backpack in the front of the driver’s seat containing a scale and clear empty bags and a black sunglasses bag in between the driver’s seat and center console that contained:
- A clear baggie with a cloudy rock-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine; and
- A clear baggie containing five round orange pills that were identified as Clonazepam and four white oval pills that were identified as hydrochloride.
Wheeler, who lives at 2503 South Street, Apt. 49 in Leesburg, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of methamphetamine and two counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was being held on $8,000 bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
Wheeler was arrested in February 2018 on his fourth charge of theft after being accused of trying to steal the shoes from the Lady Lake department store. He entered the store and put a pair of women’s socks in the pocket of his cargo shorts and then went to the shoe department and selected a black pair of Nike shoes. He put the shoes he had been wearing into the shoebox, a police report states.
Wheeler was stopped by the store’s loss prevention officer when he attempted to leave the store with the merchandise, valued at $87.99. A check revealed he had been convicted of theft on May 25, 2015; Sept. 16, 2015 and Oct. 9, 2016.