OCALA, Fla.\u00a0— Police captured a suspect from an Ocala armed robbery late Tuesday evening after he led officials on a multi-county chase in a stolen pickup truck.<\/p>\n
Willie Williams IV, 29, of Leesburg, was found in a residential neighborhood in the 900 block of Newman Drive, a couple blocks north of Amscot on U.S. Highway 441 in Leesburg with the help of a K-9 from the Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
According to Lauren Lettelier,\u00a0Marion County Sheriff\u2019s Office spokeswoman, deputies received reports of an armed robbery about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the S&B Cost Cutter Convenience Store on South Magnolia Avenue in Ocala.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told deputies a masked man with a gun robbed the store and fired shots.<\/p>\n
No one was injured, Lettelier said.<\/p>\n
Witnesses gave deputies a description of the armed robber and the vehicle he was driving. Deputies spotted the suspect, later identified as Williams, driving the truck, south on U.S. Highway 475A.<\/p>\n
Lettelier added\u00a0Williams led law enforcement on a pursuit through Sumter County and Fruitland Park before he abandoned the vehicle at the Newman Drive home and fled on foot.<\/p>\n
An arrest affidavit adds Williams ran into a home in the 900 block, a home where a latter search failed to find him. However, police later discovered him hiding in the back yard of a home in the same block.<\/p>\n
A perimeter was set up by multiple agencies and Williams was captured by the K-9. He refused treatment and was jailed.<\/p>\n
The truck, with a damaged left front tire where he reportedly almost crashed during a turn on North Shore Drive, still could be seen at 9 p.m. Tuesday in the front yard of\u00a0the Leesburg home as dozens of law enforcement vehicles lined the streets.<\/p>\n
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Williams, a registered sex offender, remained Wednesday morning\u00a0in the Lake County jail in lieu of $60,000 bail on charges of fleeing law enforcement officers and resisting arrest. However, the affidavit added law enforcement had asked for no bail in the armed robbery case.<\/p>\n
According to the jail website, Williams has been arrested several times on charges that include possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, drug possession, lewd and lascivous behavior, resisting arrest, probation violations and battery.<\/p>\n