Key West The Newspaper

Man arrested for burglary on Stock Island

A Stock Island man was arrested Friday, charged with burglarizing his mother’s apartment.

Deputies were dispatched to an apartment building on 3rd Avenue, Stock Island at midnight. A woman who lives there was calling from Miami. She told Sheriff’s dispatchers a neighbor had seen her son breaking into her apartment through a back window. She said her son does not have permission to be in her apartment. She said he has a drug problem and has stolen from her in the past.

Deputies Auviana Lawson, Austin Hopp and Boyd Williams arrived on the scene and saw 21 year old Pablo Sanchez, Jr. through the front window of the apartment. The repeatedly ordered him out and he refused to come out. They finally told him a K-9 team was on the scene and they would send the dog in if he didn’t come out. He came out and surrendered.

Sanchez, Jr. was taken into custody. He had a cell phone in his possession he had taken from inside the residence. He was charged with burglary, criminal mischief and resisting arrest and he was booked into jail.

Man flees from deputies, crashes his car

A Miami man is in the hospital after fleeing from deputies at a high rate of speed; deputies stopped chasing him due to the dangerous speeds. He later crashed his car in Islamorada and called 911 for help.

Deputy Mario Benedetti first spotted the white BMW northbound at 45th Street in Marathon at 3 a.m. traveling at an estimated 90 mile per hour. The deputy attempted to stop the car. The driver, later identified as 38 year old Jason Dyer of Miami, refused to stop, instead speeding up.

The sergeant on duty ordered Deputy Benedetti to stop pursuing the BMW due to the dangerous speeds at which it was traveling. A notice to be on the lookout for the vehicle was issued over police radios. Several more deputies had contact with the vehicle, attempting to stop it without success.

Finally, at 3:34 a.m., dispatchers received a report of a white BMW which had crashed and was upside down on the old highway in Islamorada, at the 87 mile marker. Dyer had fled the scene of the crash on foot, but a short time later, he called 911 to report he was injured and needed help.

Dyer was found near the crash scene and was transported to Mariner’s Hospital. Florida Highway Patrol responded to the crash scene and will be investigating the vehicle crash. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office will be charging him in connection with the incident as well.

Marathon man charged with stealing tools

A Marathon man was arrested Wednesday for stealing tools from the Home Depot store in Marathon.

At 12:30 p.m. Sgt. Chuck Kellenberger was driving by a wooded area on the west side of Home Depot in Marathon when he spotted a man behind some trees. He stopped to investigate the possible trespassing. The man was identified as 48 year old Todd O’Quinn. He noticed that O’Quinn was removing a blue Makita tool bag from a cardboard box and had a yellow Dewalt miter saw box on the ground nearby.

O’Quinn told the sergeant that a friend gave the tools to him. During the course of the encounter with officers, O’Quinn changed his story several times about where he got the tools.

Deputies Joshua Baer and Willian Guerra arrived on the scene. Deputy Guerra got the SKU numbers from the tool boxes and went to Home Depot to see who might have recently purchased the tools. Home Depot told Deputy Guerra the tools were still on their inventory and had not been sold to anyone.

O’Quinn admitted to having been in Home Depot earlier that morning. He said he got a cup of coffee, but did not admit to having stolen the tools.

O’Quinn was arrested. He was charged with grand theft and he was booked into jail.