POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A 35-year-old Polk County man faces multiple charges after surveillance footage captured him vandalizing a neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera and attempting to enter the home, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.
Matthew McCormack, who lives on the same street as the victim, approached the residence and removed the camera from the front of the house. According to law enforcement, it was the second time McCormack had gone to the property.
Deputies and detectives used the footage recorded by the device prior to its removal to identify McCormack. Additional neighborhood video captured him driving down the street and pulling directly into his own driveway shortly afterward.
When investigators confronted McCormack at his home, he initially denied any involvement before making a confession to authorities.
“When we found him, he had first denied it,” Judd said during a morning briefing addressing the incident. “And then he said, ‘Well yeah, I tried to get in the house.'”
Judd noted that the suspect was easily identified because the camera recorded his face directly before he tore it down.
“Just what are you thinking?” Judd said. “You live in the neighborhood, you go up, you tear up the people’s Ring doorbell camera, they’ve got video of you, you’ve done it before… try to be a good neighbor if you get out of jail.”
McCormack was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and booked on charges including attempted burglary of an occupied dwelling, trespassing in a structure or conveyance, and criminal mischief involving property damage under $200.
Jail records show bond was set at $250 for the trespassing charge and $250 for the criminal mischief charge, while the attempted burglary charge was listed as merged.
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