18-year-old on pre-trial release arrested for grand theft of firearm

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mohamed Walid Shehat, 18, was arrested early this morning and charged with grand theft of a firearm. He was on pre-trial release for allegedly making a false bomb threat to Gainesville High School in September 2023.

At about 1:09 a.m. on July 18, a Gainesville Police Department officer pulled over a car in the 1200 block of W. University Avenue for speeding. The officer reported that the person in the passenger seat, later identified as Shehat, was making “furtive movements,” leaning toward the center of the vehicle and bending down as if trying to place something under the seat or between the seats.

The officer reportedly asked Shehat to get out of the vehicle, based on his furtive movements and the possibility that there might be a weapon in the vehicle.

Shehat reportedly said he bent over to retrieve his phone. The driver of the vehicle reportedly said Shehat had bent down to grab a vape pen.

The driver reportedly gave consent for a search of the vehicle, and the officer reportedly found a handgun under the passenger seat; the gun had been reported stolen in Alachua County in 2024.

Both Shehat and the driver reportedly said they didn’t know anything about a gun in the vehicle and that neither of them had any history with firearms.

The officer determined that there was probable cause to arrest Shehat on the charge due to the location of the firearm (“constructive possession”).

After prosecutors charged Shehat as an adult with making a false threat in December 2023, he was booked into the Alachua County Jail on February 8, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held on $100,000 bail. His public defender filed a motion for bond reduction on February 14, stating that he could not afford to post bond and would live with his family; on February 19, Judge William Davis ordered Shehat released on his own recognizance with a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The traffic stop early this morning was during the period when he was supposed to be at home.

A motion to revoke Shehat’s bond was filed this morning on the basis that he had been arrested on a new offense, and Acting Judge Luis Bustamante granted the motion.

Shehat had juvenile convictions in 2023 and 2024 and is on pre-trial release for an adult felony. Court records indicate that he is a student at Florida State College of Jacksonville. Judge Kristine Van Vorst set bail at $75,000 on the new charges, but Judge Bustamante’s order means that he will be held without bail.

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.

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