An Oakland Hills man was jailed Wednesday after allegedly trying to get a license plate for a stolen travel trailer.
A Belleview police officer was called to the local tax collector’s office and spoke with an employee who provided him with a copy of the travel trailer’s title and a driver’s license belonging to 47-year-old Sylvester Alfonzo Ingram, who was still at the counter. The employee said Ingram brought in the title with the front portion unsigned and the back signed. She said she highlighted the area that needed to be signed and Ingram left with document, the report says.
The employee said Ingram returned about 20 minutes later with the missing signature filled in and attempted to register the travel trailer in his name. She said she checked the vehicle’s identification number and discovered that it had been reported stolen, the report says.
The officer then made contact with Ingram, who claimed he was purchasing the trailer from the person listed on the title. He said the trailer was in a wooded area in Ocklawaha and he had just spoken with the owner before coming to the tax collector’s office. He also gave the officer a phone number to contact that person, the report says.
The officer called the phone number and a woman who answered said he had the wrong number. He conducted a records check and located a Hernando County Sheriff’s Office report where the owner of the travel trailer had reported the vehicle stolen and it still hadn’t been recovered. The owner said he hadn’t signed the title, wasn’t trying to sell the trailer and Ingram didn’t have permission to register the vehicle, the report says.
Ingram, who lives at 8249 County Road 109 in Oakland Hills, was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail. He refused to speak with the officer about the trailer after being read his rights, the report says.
Ingram was charged with uttering a forced certificate of title and fraud representation when registering a vehicle. He was released Friday morning on $2,500 bond and is due in court Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges, jail records show.
