WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – A 16-year-old is facing multiple criminal charges after an alert resident spotted someone breaking into parked vehicles early Tuesday morning in a Winter Haven neighborhood.
Officers were dispatched around 1:45 a.m. on August 25 to Salisbury Drive, where a neighbor reported watching a person enter two vehicles and try the door handles of several others. By the time police arrived, the suspect had fled the scene. A search involving the Polk County Sheriff’s Office aviation unit and K-9 handlers initially turned up empty.
Investigators soon identified the suspect as 16-year-old Demarcus Johnson, who lives less than half a mile away on Edgewood Drive. Records showed Johnson was currently on probation and out past his court-ordered curfew.
When officers arrived at the Edgewood Drive home to conduct a probation check, they spotted Johnson standing just outside. Johnson took off running on foot but was quickly apprehended near Dundee Road and 19th Street Southeast.
Police brought Johnson back to his residence, where his legal guardian consented to a search of his backpack. Inside, officers found a hoodie and shorts matching the clothing seen on surveillance footage, along with a matching beanie in Johnson’s possession.
Johnson was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, resisting an officer without violence, petit theft, and violation of probation.
“I applaud the resident who stepped up to call when something didn’t look right,” Police Chief Vance Monroe said. “Community safety is a shared responsibility and the quick action and willingness to get involved made a direct difference in keeping more citizens from becoming a victim.”
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