SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. – A man was arrested Sunday in Sumter County after leaping from the second floor of a building at a condo complex that he’s accused of crashing into and burglarizing.
Deputies and The Villages Fire Rescue responded to the scene just before 4 a.m., located at 22101 Sandalwood Drive. The sheriff’s office identified 44-year-old Corey Payton as the reason it received 911 calls reporting a car had crashed into one of the complex’s buildings and that its driver was breaking into multiple units.
Payton barricaded himself in a unit on the second floor after deputies arrived, threatening to shoot them, according to the sheriff’s office. Despite there being no further official word on whether Payton was actually armed, the threats prompted deputies to evacuate other units at the complex as a sheriff’s office S.W.A.T. team responded.
Crisis negotiators made contact with Payton through a window that he had broken, talking over several hours to secure a peaceful surrender, a news release states. This is when Payton reportedly “dove” out of the window to the ground, where first responders initiated life-saving measures and airlifted the 44-year-old to a trauma center.
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Payton was wanted at the time due to a warrant issued Friday regarding a violation of parole for burglary, according to the sheriff’s office. An ankle monitor he was wearing as a condition of his supervised release was found to have been cut off, left behind in one of the impacted units.
In addition to 139 prior felony charges and 30 total felony convictions that the sheriff’s office said Payton has, he will now face charges of burglary to an occupied dwelling, burglary to a dwelling and multiple counts of criminal mischief, the release states.
Payton will be booked once he’s released from the hospital, deputies said. More charges could come pending the investigation.
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