An out-of-towner was arrested with a stolen gun after a traffic stop in Wildwood.
Randy O’Hara Hodges III, 38, of Lakeland, was driving a blue Hyundai Sonata shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday in the area of U.S. 301 and West Clarke Street when an officer ran the vehicle’s license plate and discovered it had been assigned to a green 2004 Nissan pickup, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department.
The officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop, using his squad car’s lights and siren, but Hodges continued driving for more than a mile, before finally pulling over at U.S. 301 and County Road 466A.
When Hodges was retrieving information from the glove compartment during the traffic stop, an officer spotted a handgun in the glove compartment. It was a Taurus G2C 9mm gun and a check of the serial number revealed it had been reported stolen in 2020 in Polk County. An extended handgun magazine was found in the driver’s door side pocket.
Hodges was arrested on a charge of theft of a firearm. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $2,500 bond.
