High Springs man arrested for fleeing and giving fake ID to deputy

Staff report

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – Maurice Marko Shuler, 39, was arrested yesterday after allegedly fleeing from a traffic stop and then giving a fake ID to a deputy.

At about 12:36 p.m. on November 6, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a car with an expired tag; the deputy requested information on the registration of the vehicle and learned that it was owned by a woman, but a man named Maurice Shuler was affiliated with the woman, and the driver’s license photograph for Shuler matched the driver of the car. The deputy also learned that Shuler had a warrant for failing to pay child support and that his driver’s license had been revoked for failing to pay child support.

The deputy initiated the traffic stop in the 16900 block of U.S. Hwy 441 and reported that the driver looked at him in the side mirror but continued driving, observing the speed limit and traffic laws. The driver turned into the Oak Ridge subdivision and continued driving until he pulled into a driveway, over a mile from the location where the traffic stop was initiated.

The driver allegedly gave the deputy a driver’s license with the name Marcus Leon Shuler, the address of the home where he had stopped the car, and a picture of Maurice Shuler. When the deputy explained that he had pulled him over for an expired tag, Shuler reportedly said it was not his car and he did not want to pull over on the side of the road.

The deputy asked “Marcus” Shuler if he knew a Maurice Shuler, and Shuler reportedly said he did not know anyone named Maurice. The deputy reported that a law enforcement database contained a picture of a different black male associated with the driver’s license; the picture showed a man with a thinner face and a full head of hair, and he had a Leesburg address. The deputy wrote that the picture in the database “did not resemble Maurice at all.”

The deputy detained Shuler, checked his real name for warrants, and found that Maurice had two active child support warrants out of Alachua and Lake counties and that his driver’s license had been revoked six times and suspended three times.

A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper arrived with a Rapid ID kit and tried to obtain fingerprints from Shuler, but Shuler allegedly balled up his hands into fists and refused to be fingerprinted; he reportedly said he did not consent to be fingerprinted, so they should take him to jail. The deputy took Shuler into custody.

An inventory of the vehicle prior to towing reportedly produced a band card and an employee identification card in the name of Maurice Shuler.

At the jail, Shuler allegedly refused to be fingerprinted or photographed, and he refused to sign the citations that were presented to him for the traffic violations.

Shuler has been charged with fleeing from law enforcement with lights and sirens active, possession of a forged identification card, resisting an officer without violence, driving with a revoked license, and refusing to sign a citation. He has one felony conviction (violent) and three misdemeanor convictions (one violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2009. He has an active warrant out of Gadsden County for driving with a revoked license. Judge Jonathan Ramsey set bail at $40,000, and he owes $3,070 in child support.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.