A 26-year-old Lady Lake man was arrested Thursday in Belleview after claiming that he didn’t know his driver’s license was suspended.
A Belleview police officer was patrolling U.S. Hwy. 441 when he spotted a red Hyundai passenger car traveling southbound next to him. The officer conducted a records check and discovered that the registered owner of the vehicle, Maurice Marquis Morgan, had a suspended driver’s license for failing to pay multiple traffic fines, a police report states.
The officer stopped Morgan, who said he didn’t have his license with him because another officer took it during a traffic stop a couple of weeks earlier. He claimed he had been to the Lake County courthouse earlier in the day and paid his fees. He said, “They mentioned something about reinstating his license, but they did not give him a new one and he did not go to the DMV to get one,” the report says.
The officer conducted a second records check that showed:
- March 1: Indefinite suspension for failing to pay traffic fine;
- April 12: Indefinite suspension for failing to pay traffic fine; and
- May 12: Conviction for driving while license suspended on April 30.
Morgan, who lives at 797 Teague Trail, Apt. 3203, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with driving while license suspended (second conviction). He was released early Thursday afternoon on $1,000 bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
