A Summerfield man with an unlicensed vehicle that had been reported stolen was jailed recently after providing a Marion County sheriff’s deputy with false names.
The deputy was patrolling in the area of 1900 S.W. Hwy. 484 on April 1 when he spotted a disabled vehicle without a license tag parked in the left-turn lane to enter Interstate 75. The deputy stopped and offered to render air to 30-year-old Travis Dean West, who claimed the vehicle had a broken drive shaft, a sheriff’s office report states.
When asked why the vehicle didn’t have a tag on it, West said he had “just bought it.” When asked for identification, West said he didn’t have any on him and provided a plastic card with the name Taylor Johnson on it. He also told the deputy his birthday was April 4, 1993, the report says.
After the deputy ran a computer check and didn’t find anyone matching that name and birthdate, West said he had “misheard” the question and claimed to be Hunter Allen Westman with a date of birth of Jan. 1, 1994. Deputies then detained West and confirmed that no one matched that name and birthday in their computer system, the report says.
When advised that the second name he provided also wasn’t correct, West told deputies his correct name and said he was scared and didn’t want to go to jail. Deputies checked the VIN number on the vehicle and discovered that it had been reported stolen on March 31 in Marion County.
After being read his rights, West claimed he didn’t understand them. He said he had suffered a head injury several years ago and “it has caused him issues.” He then said, “Just take me to jail,” according to the report.
West, who lives at 8240 S.E. 132nd Ln. in Summerfield, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, providing false identification to a law enforcement officer and a probation violation for burglary of an occupied structure or conveyance. He was being held on $2,500 bond on the new charges and no bond on the probation violation and is due in court May 4 and May 10 to answer to the charges, jail records show.
