[PHOTO CREDITS: Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
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[01/13/20 5:29 p.m.] MOUNT DORA, Florida — Sgt. Fred Jones of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office contacted Lake Legal News late this afternoon to clarify the relationship between three separate parties mentioned in our original article, due to the fact that heavy redaction by LCSO rendered the police affidavit susceptible of more than one conclusion. For example, an unredacted portion of the information, as originally provided by LCSO, stated: “As deputies began to respond, the female victim continued to update dispatchers, stating that the husband was holding the suspect at gunpoint, and that the suspect had began to undress himself.” [Emphasis added.] This strongly indicated a husband and wife relationship, without further indication that both a daughter and a wife were present. Our article has since been revised to accord with clarifications from LCSO.
[Original Breaking News]: MOUNT DORA, Florida — A Eustis man who stalked a woman on social media, broke into her family’s home and stripped naked was held at gunpoint by the woman’s father until Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrived early Friday morning, according to an arrest affidavit.
LCSO deputies responded to a home in Mount Dora just before 3:15 a.m. Friday, following three separate 9-1-1 calls. One of the calls reported an intruder being held at gunpoint by the caller’s husband. The woman also told dispatchers shots had been fired. Deputies arrived to find Deron Tyrone Randall Jr., 24, standing in the living room naked and being held at gunpoint.
Deputies gave several K-9 warnings to Randall and he refused to comply, causing deputies to deploy a K-9 and shock Randall with a taser. A deputy attempted to handcuff Randall and he slipped the cuff off his wrist and continued to struggle with deputies, the affidavit states. The K-9 was deployed again and bit Randall several times while a deputy shocked Randall with a taser in his back and near his waistline. After struggling for several minutes, deputies were finally able to place Randall in a four-point restraint.
The victims told deputies Randall broke a rear sliding glass door and came into their home. The male victim confronted Randall with a shotgun and they struggled; the man hit Randall in the head with the shotgun and it fired, striking the master bedroom door. This disabled the shotgun and the man got his handgun and held Randall at gunpoint. Randall began to strip and mumble someone’s name — presumably the teenage daughter’s.
The man told Randall to “stay put” and he advanced toward the man again. The man fired a warning shot and Randall stayed still until deputies arrived. After Randall was taken into custody, he was transported to AdventHealth Waterman for multiple injuries and later booked into the Lake County Jail.
Deputies found Randall’s bicycle on the north side of the home in addition to a bottle of soda, chips and lotion near the master bedroom window.
This was the third time Randall came to the victim’s home in just over 24 hours. Around 1 a.m. Thursday, Randall came to the home and asked for someone by name (although the name is redacted in the arrest affidavit.) Randall was told to leave by an unidentified person, and around 8:30 a.m. the same day he came back and asked for the same person he asked for hours before.
The female victim told deputies Randall had followed her on social media several years before and made inappropriate comments to her, causing her to block him. About two years later, the family ordered a stove from a local chain and Randall was the delivery driver. It’s unclear if that is how Randall knew where she lived.
Randall was charged with burglary with battery, cyberstalking, lewd and lascivious conduct in the presence of an elderly person and resisting an officer with violence. He is being held at the Lake County Jail on $271,000 bond.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
