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Sheriff's office K-9 helps nab Martin County purse snatcher

Jasmina Meyer, Highlands Today

Highlands County Sheriff's K-9 Deputy Chris Gunter looks on as first graders pet his partner Wyatt during Park Elementary School's Great American Teach-In recently in Avon Park.

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: November 20, 2009

STUART - It was the second day of a week-long training seminar in Stuart, but a Highlands County Sheriff's Office bloodhound went right from class and into the field to help nab a purse snatcher.

Highlands County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Gunter is in Martin County this week with his dog Wyatt for the training, along with K-9 teams from Utah, Alaska and Texas.

On Tuesday, the teams were conducting an exercise where a decoy left an article of clothing with his scent on it so the dogs could track him. Around 5 p.m., a mutual aid request came in that Wyatt help catch a suspect who snatched a purse from a nearby Walmart.

Gunter called the HCSO and got authorization to help with the search.

"We tracked roughly 300 yards through a wooded area, through a canal and ended up finding the guy," Gunter said Thursday.

Authorities found the man, identified as Matthew Adams, 23, hiding in a palmetto hedge, according to Gunter. He was told to come out several times, but did not obey.

A police dog from the Stuart Police Department was sent in to apprehend Adams, Gunter said. The suspect was bitten by the animal, said Sgt. Kevin Gannon of the Martin County Sheriff's Office. He did not think the bite was serious.

Adams was charged with grand theft, trespassing and resisting arrest without violence, according to the MCSO Web site.

This is not Gunter's and Wyatt's first time going right from the classroom and into the field. The deputy said he and the dog were at a training seminar two years ago in Gadsden County and were asked to help track a person charged with home invasion.

The Highlands County deputy has nothing but praise for his four-legged partner, a four-year veteran of the sheriff's office.

"I'm very fortunate," Gunter said. "He's a very good dog to have."

TCPalm reporter Joe Crankshaw contributed to this report. Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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