The Lake County Sheriff's Office has added Deshawn Lee to its Most Wanted list.
A Facebook post identifies Lee as wanted. Frank Leonbruno has served as the elected Sheriff of Lake County since taking office in 2019, overseeing agency divisions that include the Detective Bureau, Court Services, Central Communications, and the Lake County Adult Detention Facility in Painesville, according to Lake County Government.
What a Weapons Under Disability Charge Means
Lee's original charge, having weapons while under disability, is a serious one under Ohio law. The offense is classified as a third-degree felony carrying statutory penalties of nine to 36 months in state prison and fines up to $10,000, per the The Meade Law Group. In Ohio, a legal disability refers not to a physical condition but to a disqualification from possessing or carrying a firearm, which can stem from a prior felony conviction, an active indictment, fugitive status, or drug dependency.
Probation violations like the one now alleged against Lee carry their own legal weight. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2951.08, officers are authorized to arrest someone on community control or probation without a warrant when there is reasonable cause to believe supervision conditions were violated, including possessing prohibited firearms or committing new offenses, according to the text of the statute published by Ohio Laws. Ohio's community control framework, updated under House Bill 110 and Senate Bill 288, allows courts to revoke probation entirely and impose the original prison sentence when substantive conditions are breached.
Probation Terms Bar Firearm Possession
Locally, probation conditions in Lake County routinely prohibit people under supervision from owning, carrying, or possessing any firearms or dangerous weapons, while also requiring them to yield their Fourth Amendment search rights to probation officers and law enforcement, per the Painesville Municipal Court. Violating those terms can trigger immediate arrest, a formal court violation hearing, and the execution of a suspended prison term, the court's probation materials note.
The search for Lee fits into a much larger caseload for the sheriff's office. The agency's Court Services Division handles active warrants issued by the Lake County Common Pleas Court, Domestic Relations Court, Juvenile Court, and local municipal courts.
Regional Task Forces Help Track Fugitives
Lake County doesn't always go it alone when chasing down people who skip out on supervision. In August, a 10-day joint operation between the U.S. Marshals Service and the sheriff's office resulted in 43 arrests targeting violent fugitives and drug offenders across the county, with Sheriff Leonbruno noting that federal and local task forces regularly target people with violent or drug-related histories to maintain community safety, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. In March 2025, the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force similarly located and arrested a Lake County woman in Euclid who had been sought on an active probation violation warrant out of Lake County.
That kind of cross-jurisdictional pursuit isn't unique to Lake County. In neighboring Cuyahoga County, authorities and Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County deploy comparable public Most Wanted social media features and anonymous tip lines to track down suspects facing active felony warrants, as Hoodline has reported.
How Residents Can Submit Tips
The sheriff's office implemented a mobile app that lets users submit tips and browse recent arrests; the app is listed on the Google Play Store. For now, Lee remains at large.
