(Lake County, FL) Last week, 22-year-old Kenneth Dalon Bailey entered a plea of guilty to the charge of Second-Degree Murder for the 2024 murder of 87-year-old Clarence Harold Ervin. Judge Cary Rada sentenced Bailey to 45 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.
โ๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐, ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ข๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐จ ๐ก๐ค๐จ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ค๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ก๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ง๐๐ค๐ช๐จ๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ข’๐จ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ,โ said Walter Forgie, Chief Assistant State Attorney.
On September 28, 2024, the victim, Clarence Harold Ervin was shot at a Leesburg gas station located off West Main Street. Leesburg Police Department officers responded to the scene where they located the victim with apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was transported for medical treatment and would later succumb to his injuries.
Witnesses on the scene informed officials of the directions that the suspects fled and were able to provide detailed descriptions of each. Contact was made with the store clerk who was able to provide video surveillance footage of the incident, showing three suspects approached the victim while the victim was sitting inside his vehicle at the gas pump. Two of the three suspects stood beside the passenger door of the vehicle, while the third suspect, later identified as Bailey, stood by the opened driverโs door and appeared to exchange words with the victim before pulling out a firearm and shooting the victim.
After issuing a public bulletin asking for help identifying the three suspects, officials received information identifying one of the suspects, named Craig Stevenson Jr. The witness indicated to authorities that Stevenson had a best friend named Kenney, later determined to be the defendant. Additional information was developed during the investigation by detectives to identify the third suspect.
Both Bailey and Stevenson were arrested for their involvement in the crime. The investigation into the third suspect involved remains ongoing.
Assistant State Attorneys Ken Nunnelley and Shannon Schlarf prosecuted this case.
