A suspected vandal was arrested after a dispute out on the water with a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission contractor.
Justin Pierce Langley, 30, of Lady Lake, turned himself in Wednesday at the Sumter County Detention Center in Bushnell on a charge of criminal mischief.
Langley had been involved in April in a dispute with a worker from Applied Aquatic Management Inc., a contractor for FWC, at Lake Panasoffkee.
During the verbal exchange, Langley attempted to use his boat’s engine to spray water on the worker. The worker took a photo of Langley as well as snapping a picture of the boat and its license number. The worker returned to the Coleman Landing Boat Ramp, where he had parked his boat and trailer.
After the worker put his boat on the trailer and began to drive away, he heard a loud scraping noise. He got out of his truck and found that the trailer’s passenger side tire was flat. He discovered the valve stem had been removed from the tire.
A deputy investigating the vandalism found the boat from the incident out on the water was licensed to Langley’s brother. The deputy began looking for Langley, who eventually contacted the deputy by phone. He denied damaging the trailer tire and claimed he had a photo of “the other people” responsible for the vandalism. The deputy invited Langley, who has a previous criminal record, to send him the photo, but Langley never sent it.
After he turned himself in Wednesday, he was booked at the jail and released after posting $150 bond.
