Three people were arrested in Florida after suspects allegedly used a phone-charging ruse to steal a car and smash a store window in Isaias chaos.
Escambia County deputies moved fast in the messy hours after Hurricane Isaias tore through the Southeast. Two suspects allegedly talked their way into a woman’s car, drove off with it, and crashed after a chase. A third man tried to break into a 24-hour store while the lights were out.
Fox News Digital reported the arrests as Florida still counted more than 438,000 residents without power and officials confirmed one storm-related death in Mobile, Alabama.
Sheriff Chip Simmons put it bluntly in a Facebook video. The office was already hunting for people who treat a disaster like an open invitation.
Dustin Kelley, 30, and Amanda Carr, 29, allegedly approached a woman and claimed they were in the area doing work after the hurricane. They said their phone had died. Carr was “crying,” Simmons said, because she did not have a charger.
The woman let them into her car so they could plug in. She got out. They allegedly drove off with the vehicle.
A nearby deputy spotted the stolen car and gave chase. The car crashed. No one was seriously injured. Kelley and Carr were arrested.
Simmons did not mince words about the pair.
"So these two angels pretended like they needed a phone charged and ended up stealing a car. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t realize that the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has been out in full force looking for people just like them, and they’re going to jail now."
Kelley was charged with larceny, fleeing or eluding police, and possession of marijuana. Carr was charged with larceny. Fox News Digital reached out to both for comment.
While power was still out, deputies say Van Gary Spikes Jr. tried a different play. He allegedly smashed a window at a 24-hour store in an attempted break-in.
A deputy saw it happen. Spikes ran. He did not get far.
Simmons described the response in the same plain terms he used for the car theft.
"The Escambia County Sheriff's Office was out in full force, and we were able to pull up, saw him, and he took off running, but didn't get far."
Spikes was charged with possession of burglary tools, wearing a mask during the commission of a second-degree felony, attempted burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency, loitering and prowling, criminal mischief involving damage of $200 or more, and obstruction without violence. The sheriff’s office identified him to Fox News Digital through a public information officer. He was also contacted for comment.
The crimes sat against a wider backdrop of storm damage. Florida was dealing with mass outages. Cleanup hazards were reported in Mobile, Alabama, where officials confirmed a storm-related death. A Rosemary Beach resident described flooding and downed power lines in local accounts tied to the same weather system.
Absolute dates for the car theft, the store attempt, and the arrests were not laid out in the reporting. What was clear is the setting: a state of emergency, darkened stores, and people still reeling from Isaias.
That is exactly when soft enforcement invites trouble. Simmons’ message was the opposite. Deputies stayed on the street. They watched for the phone-charge scam and the smashed window. They made the arrests.
The woman who opened her door to help strangers in a storm became the victim of a simple ruse. The store that stayed open through a blackout became a target the moment the glass looked easy. Neither deserved to be treated as fair game because the power was out.
Kelley, Carr, and Spikes now face the charges listed by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. The cases will move through the courts. The larger point does not wait on a verdict.
When a hurricane knocks out the lights, the people who keep order decide whether chaos becomes cover. Escambia County’s deputies chose the first option, and three suspects found out the hard way.
