(L) Williams, (R) Brinson
A stolen vehicle investigation this past Sunday led to the recovery of that vehicle, two arrests, and much more.
On Sunday, January 14th, deputies were called to Fire Station #46 in Fort White for a report of a stolen vehicle. The vehicle, a 2019 Ford pick-up truck, belonged to one of the firefighters. It had been stolen after the crew responded to a medical call of a subject who was not breathing. While the crew was away from the station, Percell Brinson (31) of Fort White, stole the truck. The truck had several firearms and ammunition inside. A short time later, the truck was located and Brinson was apprehended nearby. Although the truck was located, several of the items within were still missing.
During the course of the investigation, Brinson led detectives to a residence (390 SW Jasmine St.) where he stated those items might be located. A search warrant was obtained and executed for that property on Monday, January 15th. That search uncovered several caches of firearms, ammunition, and marijuana hidden throughout the property. During the execution of the search warrant, five (5) severely neglected dogs were also located on the property and Animal Control responded to take possession of them. The owner of that property, Cortney Williams (34) of Fort White, was arrested and charged with various weapons, drug, and animal neglect offenses.
“This case evolved very quickly and led to an extensive recovery of evidence,” said Sheriff Mark Hunter. “The tremendous cooperation and proactive work among our Patrol and Detective Divisions resulted in the successful resolution of this case, and possibly many others. We may be able to solve more crimes as a result of this one incident.”
An initial inventory of recovered evidence revealed approximately 80 pounds of marijuana, 9 firearms, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Investigation is on-going to see if any of the recovered items can be linked to other reported crimes.
