SANFORD, Fla. – A man was arrested after being spotted outside of Sanford Middle School on Wednesday, sending the school into lockdown, according to the police department.
In an affidavit, police said the incident happened around 10:15 a.m. when a delivery driver told the school resource officer about a man in the parking lot who was looking into vehicles.
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The officer then began searching through the parking lot, which is when another person alerted the officer to a man taking pictures of the cars, the affidavit shows.
Other officers then showed up to search the area, though the school’s surveillance system began malfunctioning, according to investigators.
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As a result, police said they weren’t able to figure out where the man was, and the school was placed on a “Code Red.”
After reviewing surveillance footage, police said they found that the man had been walking through the parking lot and examining some of the vehicles around 9:50 a.m.
However, the man got into a black sedan parked in a handicapped space, driving over to the other side of the lot and parking there, the affidavit says.
He was then seen getting out and walking around another vehicle, but when cafeteria workers noticed him, he got back into the sedan and fled the property around 10:23 a.m., according to police.
After realizing he was no longer on the campus, the lockdown was lifted and classes returned to normal, investigators explained.
Police said the black sedan belonged to a woman, and she told investigators that she’d left her keys inside of her vehicle and her doors unlocked.
During another call for service after the incident, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office found and recovered the stolen car. In addition, deputies arrested Fabian Sanchez, 31.
Sanchez faces charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle, trespassing on school grounds, and disturbing the peace to disrupt school.
He is held on a bond of $2,800, and his court date is scheduled for April 2.
Court records show that Sanchez was arrested on Feb. 8 on a trespassing charge stemming from a Wawa convenience store in Casselberry.
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