A man who allegedly stole $3,000 from his mother’s safe while she was at church is also suspected of ramming a pickup into Fruitland Park City Hall.
Jonathan Ryan Cuppels, 36, of Fruitland Park, was arrested Thursday by Fruitland Park police on charges of grand theft and criminal mischief after allegedly attempting to use a power drill to try to break into a safe at the home of his mother. He continued to be held over the Easter weekend at the Lake County Jail on $24,000 bond.
Cuppels is also suspected in an April Fool’s Day incident in which he allegedly rammed his pickup into the glass entry doors at city hall. He has not yet been charged in that incident.
Cuppels reportedly indicated to Fruitland Park police that he was suicidal. For now the doors are boarded up and there are indications it could take two to three months to repair them.
In 2018, Cuppels was arrested in the theft of a golf cart from the Comfort Inn Suites in The Villages that had been rented by a visitor from Wisconsin. He pleaded no contest in the case and was sentenced to 120 days in jail.