An 18-year-old who had been spotted in January lurking near a Villages ATM with a loaded 9mm gun tucked in his waistband will not be prosecuted in the case.
A woman had contacted law enforcement after she completed a transaction at the ATM near The Villages Golf Cars on Bichara Boulevard in La Plaza Grande shopping center. She said that after she completed her transaction and was walking away, a man came out of the bushes and ran up to the ATM, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
A police officer in an unmarked car spotted an individual later identified as Dakota Farr of Lady Lake who came out of the bushes and walked into the nearby Target. Farr walked out of Target a few minutes later and concealed himself in the bushes at the north end of the building.
When asked about the incident at the ATM, Farr volunteered that he had heard the ATM beeping and saw a prompt asking, “Do you need more time?” Farr said he pressed the “no” button.
Farr was acting nervous and kept putting his hands in his pockets, the arrest report indicated.
Police found a 9mm firearm tucked in his pants in the front of his waist. The firearm was loaded and chambered. Farr did not have a concealed weapons permit. A search of Farr’s backpack turned up a digital scale, a small butane torch, and a glass tube containing a white powdery substance that field tested positive as cocaine.
Farr was arrested on charges of loitering/prowling, possession of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
However, the prosecutor’s office has decided to drop the case.
“The Defendant’s conduct is plausibly explained as law-abiding and as such, a motion to suppress the arrest for Loitering and Prowling is likely to succeed. All evidence in this case was obtained as a result of that arrest and the State will not proceed with prosecution,” State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit Brad King wrote in a document filed in Lake County Court.
