FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Two men were arrested Monday night after they were identified driving a vehicle linked to thefts of at least two catalytic converters in Flagler County, deputies said.
Detectives said they identified a suspect vehicle—an older, white Ford Crown Victoria—after catalytic converters were reported stolen over the weekend.
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Deputies were alerted to be on the lookout for the car, and on Monday evening, they spotted the vehicle on Belle Terre and attempted a traffic stop, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said they then arrested 45-year-old David Robert Robinson and 37-year-old Thomas Lamont Blocker around 11 p.m. on Monday near the Wells Fargo bank at 836 Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast after the men fled from their vehicle.
During the investigation, deputies said that multiple drugs and drug paraphernalia were located as well as saws and saw blades, commonly used by catalytic converter thieves, some of which had been used.
“These arrests are the result of great teamwork, investigative work and old-fashioned police work,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “Our Real-Time Crime Center analysts identified a suspect vehicle in Flagler County over the weekend that was believed to be involved in the earlier thefts and warned our deputies to be on the lookout for it. Now we have two more Jacksonville dirtbags that made the mistake of coming to Flagler County to commit crimes but are now behind bars where they belong.”
Robinson is being held without bond at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on eight different charges, including five felonies. Those include driving with a suspended license, possession of cocaine, possession of fentanyl, aggravated fleeing with injury or damage and crash with damage to vehicle or property. The other three charges are misdemeanors, including possession of marijuana under 20 grams, resisting an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Blocker is being held in the same jail on a $6,000 bond for felony charges of possession of cocaine and possession of fentanyl, along with misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana under 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The investigation is ongoing.
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