A Summerfield man with an extensive criminal record was arrested Tuesday after his mother accused him of stealing her $500 handgun from beneath her pillow.
The victim told Marion County sheriff’s deputies on April 4 that 29-year-old Lee Michael Johnson visited her residence and after he left, she discovered that her silver Ruger .357 Magnum revolver was missing. She said the handgun had been under her pillow on her bed, a sheriff’s office report states.
Deputies then made contact with Johnson and his girlfriend. She said Johnson had attempted to give her a silver .357 Magnum revolver that he claimed to have purchased at a pawn shop. She said she briefly handled the weapon but then returned it to Johnson, who denied taking his mother’s weapon, the report says.
On Tuesday, deputies spoke with Johnson’s girlfriend a second time. She provided them with a text conversation between the two where Johnson asks her if she knows anything about guns and she replies, “A lot.” Johnson tells her that he has a .357 Magnum and added, “Because my baby ain’t finna be packin no bitch gun.” The girlfriend replied, “What with bullets” and Johnson replied, “Two boxes,” the report says.
That same day, an officer from the Belleview Police Department responded to a verbal altercation between Johnson and his mother at the CVS Pharmacy at 5800 SE Abshier Blvd. Johnson’s mother told the officer that he had offered to take her to recover the missing firearm. But when he asked her for money, they started to argue, the report says.
The Belleview Police officer then transported Johnson to the sheriff’s South Multi District Office in The Villages. After being read his rights, Johnson claimed he took his mother’s firearm for protection after he was “jumped.”
When the deputy told Johnson that he didn’t look like he had been “jumped,” he said it was because “he ran away before they hurt him.” He also claimed he had hidden the handgun in a shed at his mother’s residence, the report says.
The deputy contacted Johnson’s mother, who was able to locate the firearm. Johnson was then placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with larceny/grand theft of a firearm. He was released early Thursday morning on $1,000 bond and is due in court May 12 at 9 a.m.
Johnson is no stranger to the Marion County legal system, having been held in the jail 10 times since April 2011. He has been charged with a variety of crimes – some more than once – including making a false report of a commission of a crime, possession of drug equipment, criminal mischief, larceny/grand theft, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription (Carisoprodol) and failure to appear in court.
