[PHOTO CREDIT: Florida Dept. of Corrections / Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
[Original Publish Date: 12/09/19]
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MOUNT DORA, Florida – Mount Dora police responded to 1610 North Highland Street on Saturday to investigate a “suspicious person” in a yard and found Robert Lee Hagins, 52, “on his back, snoring very loudly,” according to a police affidavit. Hagins was reportedly “coming in and out of consciousnesses and would answer questions very briefly.” He smelled strongly of alcohol and “stated he shared a fifth of liquor and had a few beers,” according to police. However Hagins refused a police sergeant’s offer to provide him a ride home to Sorrento – calling it “a trap” – and wound up going to jail instead.
Police state that Hagins – a registered Florida sex offender – kept refusing medical attention by EMS. That is when a Mount Dora police sergeant “began to offer Robert a ride to his residence in Sorrento and Robert said ‘okay, let’s go, nahh it’s a trap.'”
Hagins began to curse at EMS and law enforcement officers on scene, according to a sworn affidavit, and claimed to have “a .45 auto on me” during a pat down. When secured for a more thorough search, Hagins reportedly threatened an EMS worker, telling her that she was “going to pay for this (expletive).” Police report that even upon his eventual arrival at the hospital, “Robert began cursing all medical staff employees causing a scene at the front counter.”
After refusing to be seen by a doctor, Hagins was transported and booked into the Lake County Jail on a charge of threatening a public servant; he has since posted a $500 bond and was released.
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James Hope is a Florida Bar Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer who has been practicing criminal law in Tavares, Florida, since 1987. He has also been the Publisher and Executive Editor of Lake Legal News since 2009. He may be contacted at LakeLegalNews@gmail.com, or through his website at www.AttorneyJamesHope.com. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
