An armed man and his female companion were arrested in the parking lot at Pinellas Plaza in The Villages.
Paul Bernard Hermann, 56, of Brooksville, was driving a silver pickup at about 9 p.m. Saturday when he was pulled over in the Bank of America parking lot in Pinellas Plaza due to an inoperable taillight, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. A records check revealed that Hermann was driving on a suspended license and was previously convicted of armed burglary in Hernando County.
The officer who made the traffic stop found a .380-caliber Smith & Wesson firearm tucked under the driver’s seat of the pickup.
Hermann was arrested on a felony charge of possession of a weapon by a felon.
A passenger, 38-year-old Shanna Leann Nelson, also of Brooksville, was found to be in possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. She is already on probation.
Both were taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center.
