By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
DUNNELLON, Fla. — Shopping for veggies got scary at a Florida Walmart when deputies with guns pulled began pursuing an extortion suspect through the produce section, body camera video shows.
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The 35-year-old suspect — a convicted felon — was found to be hiding two stolen guns when caught outside, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in an Aug. 26 news release.
The chase happened around 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at a Walmart in Dunnellon, about a 90-mile drive north from Tampa.
“Deputies located his vehicle in the parking lot of the Walmart … Deputies entered the store and located (him) in the produce section pushing a shopping cart,” officials said.
“He observed the deputies and began to flee throughout the store to a side exit.”
The pursuit ended when the man fell to his knees in the parking lot and put his hands on his head, video shows.
A search revealed he was carrying “a stolen handgun, ammunition and two clear pipes that tested positive for fentanyl,” officials said. The man then led deputies to another stolen firearm, a shotgun, “stashed” next to a bush at the store, officials said.
He is accused of trying to extort cash from a woman by threatening to send nude photos to her acquaintances, officials said.
“The victim advised (the suspect) sent text messages telling her to send him money. When the victim refused, he threatened to spread sexually explicit photos of her online,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Two days later, (he) sent a sexually explicit video to two of the victim’s friends via Facebook Messenger.”
She alerted the sheriff’s office on Aug. 23, and an investigation revealed the same man was wanted in connection with the robbery of a gas station in Levy County, just west of Marion County, officials said.
Investigators did not say why they were searching the Walmart parking lot in Dunnellon, but jail records show the suspect lives in Dunnellon.
The suspect has been charged with:
- Extortion
- Battery on a law enforcement officer (while being booked into the jail)
- Possession of a weapon by a convicted felon
- Carrying a concealed firearm
- Sexual cyber-harassment
- Resisting arrest without violence
- Criminal mischief
- Possession of drug paraphernalia
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