TAVARES – Authorities have arrested and charged two men with breaking into gravesites and stealing the heads of four corpses at Greenwood Cemetery in Mount Dora for ritualistic ceremonies on Dec. 6.
It was the modern science of DNA – not witchcraft – that led to a confession and the grisly discovery of remains in one of the men’s homes.
Investigators say it was genetic evidence on a cigar that led to the arrest of Brian Montalvo Tolentino, 43, of Davenport. Practitioners of Santeria black magic often leave offerings of cigars, coins, fruit, candy and slain chickens.
Tolentino’s genetic information was in the state’s DNA crime data base, but it is not clear why.
Commissioner Jay Hurley, who voted with three others for the project, said residents have been referring to it as a “Silver Lake project.” It is, in fact, a County Road 44 development, he said.
“If you think this is the only development coming on 44 between Leesburg and Eustis, you’ve got another thing coming,” Hurley said. “There are 1,000 people a day moving to Florida every day. Not all of them are 55 and older and moving to The Villages, though it looks like it.”
Leesburg is trying to bring in business and residents to boost the economy, Hurley added.
“We don’t want to be the armpit of Lake County, to have everybody living anywhere but Leesburg, he continued. We don’t want to be the only city known for its crime rate or for the negativity that seems to be brought up a lot.”
Mascotte woman arrested for neglect, failure to report abuse
Frank Stanfield
Police arrested Brandi Daffron, 39, on the heels of the department arresting Luis M. Ramirez, 38.
Ramirez was arrested after a Mascotte officer accompanied a Department of Children and Families investigator to check into the possibility of abuse.
One child told investigators he touched her private parts and forced her into performing oral sex on him. Another child said she had been abused as long as five years earlier. Ramirez also allegedly showed the child adult pornography.
Ramirez was charged with sexual battery on a child younger than 12, lewd and lascivious molestation, child abuse without great bodily harm, and exposing a minor to harmful motion pictures.
MASCOTTE – Mascotte police have arrested a man on multiple charges, including sexual battery of a child younger than 12.
Luis M. Ramirez, 38, would be sentenced to mandatory life in prison if convicted of capital sexual battery.
An officer accompanied an investigator with the Department of Children and Families on Dec. 11 following a report of abuse by a child. The arrest affidavit did not say exactly how old the child is.
The child told investigators that Ramirez used his hands to touch her private parts, which she called her “cookie,” despite telling him no.
He then forced her to perform oral sex on him. He also showed her an adult porn video on his phone, according to the arrest report.
TAVARES – A man who played a role in one of the most heinous murders in Lake County history finds himself behind bars again.
Manuel Atward Yon Jr., 44, has been arrested on car theft, drug possession, felony battery, resisting arrest without violence, driving with a suspended license and possessing drug equipment.
He was sent to prison as an accessory after the fact in the 1993 rape, carjacking and shooting of Dorothy Lewis and the murder of her two young daughters, Jamilya, 7, and Jasmine, 6.
Last Saturday, the man sheriff’s deputies describe as a career violent criminal was seen driving a stolen car along County Road 42 in the Paisley area, according to Lake County sheriff’s deputies.