Villager's son to return to prison in 2023 after drug-related death

A village resident's son was held without bail after violating parole and dying of a drug overdose in 2023.

Jason Scott Harris, 48, was booked into the Marion County Jail this week after being arrested on a warrant for violating his probation.

A probation officer visited Harris at 557 Coker Court in the village of St. Catherine. His mother said her son had been living with her but had moved out to live with his wife and child, according to a corrections department report.

Harris is on probation until November 7, 2025, for using a two-way communication device to commit a crime.

Harris was living with his mother in August 2023 when Marion County Sheriff's officers were called to a Summerfield home where 46-year-old Lee Anne Steil had died of a drug overdose. Officers checked her cellphone and discovered a series of text messages received earlier in the day between Steil and Harris.

Steil was apparently desperate for drugs and Harris arranged for drugs to be delivered to her. The text messages also indicated that he wanted to have sex with her but had difficulty finding her location. He was in a golf cart and she was outside of The Villages. She died before he got there.

“Although Mr. Harris was not a drug supplier to the deceased, Mr. Harris used Facebook Messenger to broker a drug deal between the deceased and an unknown drug dealer,” the sheriff's office police report states.

An arrest warrant was issued against him.

When Sumter County Sheriff’s officers executed the search warrant at the home in the village of St. Catherine in December 2023, he was in possession of a chewing gum that tested positive for THC.