What began as a simple tag check on U.S. 441 in Summerfield Saturday afternoon, Aug. 2, turned into a full-blown pursuit and a stack of felony counts for Belleview resident Michael Heilig, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say Heilig eased his blue Chevy pickup—sporting a tag that expired last September—into a Sunoco parking lot when Deputy K. Walton hit the lights. Rather than park, the driver crept onto County Road 42, punched the gas, and ducked into a nearby neighborhood, finally skidding to a halt in a front yard on Southeast 164th Place.
Heilig bailed out with a black zipper bag in hand but tripped over a backyard fence and gave up when the Taser warning came. Inside the bag, deputies report finding a loaded .22-caliber pistol, spare rounds, three grams of marijuana, 2.5 grams of a meth–and-fentanyl mix, and a glass pipe that tested positive for fentanyl.
A records check revealed Heilig’s driver’s license has been suspended since 1991, with a habitual-traffic-offender status and prior drug convictions—placing the handgun squarely off-limits. Heilig told deputies he “forgot” the firearm was in the bag and admitted slapping a friend’s tag on the truck.
He now faces charges of fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest without violence, meth, fentanyl, and marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and attaching an unassigned tag. Because the gun charge carries no bond, deputies booked him into the Marion County Jail to await first appearance.
