A Polk County deputy sheriff apprehended a 47-year-old Orlando woman after a traffic stop showed that she was driving with a suspended license.
Around 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, February 15, 2026, the deputy pulled over a gray Nissan SUV near Ridgewood Lakes and U.S. Highway 27 in Davenport. The motorist, named as Chenia Thate of Orlando, was advised that her license had been suspended owing to a lack of insurance, according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Thate, the principal of Hillcrest Elementary School in Lake Wales, was found to have an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court on the insurance problem. She said she couldn’t recall signing a citation, but the deputy found the original citation that confirmed her signature on the felony notice to appear form.
Thate was arrested for the warrant and then freed after paying a $250 bond. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd was disappointed, saying, “This is upsetting, to say the least. Someone in a position of control over children should give a good example of honesty, morality, and ethics.”
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