Local News
Residents help deputies track robbery suspect
Highlands Today
Published: November 13, 2012
SEBRING - Fairmount Mobile Estates Neighborhood Watch members were on the lookout Tuesday morning for a person Highlands County Sheriff's office deputies were tracking, and their information helped them apprehend a suspicious person with an active warrant, states a sheriff's office news release.Published: November 13, 2012
At approximately 8 a.m. Tuesday, a resident of Fairmount Mobile Estates called the Highlands County Sheriff's Office Central Dispatch to report a suspicious person in the vicinity of a vehicle parked at an unoccupied home, said spokeswoman Nell Hays, in the news release.
While deputies were en route to the area, she said, numerous other calls came in, "essentially detailing the path of the subject."
When the suspect ran, deputies set up a perimeter. However, he continued eluding deputies.
"Undeterred, residents continued to call dispatch and relay information regarding the subject's location," Hays added.
After tracking him for approximately 45 minutes, deputies took Donald Black Jr. into custody at the Publix Shopping Plaza, at the corner of U.S. 27 and Schumacher Road / Sebring Parkway.
Black, who lists his address as 3623 New York Ave., within Fairmount Mobile Estates, had an active warrant for his arrest stemming from a vehicle theft which occurred at the Alan Jay dealership in October, the news release added.
He was arrested on that warrant and taken to Highlands County Jail where additional charges are expected from Tuesday's incident, Hays said.
"It should also be noted that there were two burglaries reported this morning in Fairmount Mobile Estates that evidence supports to be connected to this suspect," the Hays added.
"If anyone in the area has experienced other such incidents and have not yet reported them, we encourage you to call Central Dispatch and have a deputy come out and take a report as soon as possible," Hays said.
Sgt. Jamie Davidson "credits the alert and continuous response from the Fairmount Mobile Neighborhood Watch participants" for Black's apprehension.
"If it wasn't for these calls, we might not have been able to find this person," Davidson said. "They certainly helped us today!"