A Clermont man is behind bars in connection with a vehicle that was reported stolen in Sumter County.
Lake County sheriff’s deputies were called to a residence on Florida Boys Ranch Road on Sunday regarding a stolen vehicle. Witnesses told them that 24-year-old Chad Austin Traniello, of Clermont, had pulled up to their home and requested assistance in restarting the vehicle because he didn’t have its key, a sheriff’s office report states.
When deputies arrived, they located the vehicle, which had been reported stolen out of Sumter County. And they saw a man later identified as Traniello fleeing on foot into a nearby swamp.
A sheriff’s helicopter, K-9 units and other deputies responded to help locate Traniello. Once the helicopter crew located him in the swamp attempting to conceal himself under brush, a K-9 deputy ordered him out of the water and told him to drop the knife he held in his hand.
A sheriff’s K-9 dog was forced to engage Traniello and deputies struggled with him before finally taking him into custody. He was then transported to a nearby hospital for his injuries and later booked into the Lake County Jail.
Traniello, who lives at 10444 Log House Road in Clermont, was wanted on active warrants out of Orange and Broward counties. He was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest without violence and is being held on $3,000 bond.
Traniello also is no stranger to the Lake County legal system, having been held in the jail six times since July 2015. Those arrests have been for having a bond revoked on a grand theft charge, warrants from Broward County for driving under the influence and DUI property damage, possession of a stolen vehicle, operating a vehicle with an attached tag not assigned to it, reckless driving, larceny/petty theft and reckless driving from racing on a highway.
