Brooksville man accused of stalking woman with tracking device on her car

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - A Brooksville man is behind bars after investigators said he stalked his ex-girlfriend for months by placing a tracking device on her car.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office said the victim had been receiving text messages with information about her current locations, and believed she was being stalked.

Back in February, she took her vehicle in for service and asked them to search for a tracking device. The mechanic located a tracker on the undercarriage of the car and gave it to the victim, who in turn contacted the sheriff's office.

Detectives issued a subpoena to identify the subscriber of the tracking device as David C. Vernon. Records showed the device had been activated in June of 2019 and disconnected on Feb. 29, 2020 -- the day after the victim reported the tracker to the sheriff's office.

When detectives asked the victim if she knew Vernon, she said she had previously been in a relationship with him. She told investigators that at first she believed it may have been Vernon tracking and texting her, but then convinced herself that "he was not that type of person."

The sheriff's office interviewed Vernon on Wednesday, and said he admitted to placing the tracker on the victim's car back in October of 2019. He told detectives he parked his vehicle in the street away from the driveway and walk up to her car to initially place the device. Vernon then said he would go through the same process to replace the battery and charger as needed.

He told investigators that he monitored the woman, even though they were no longer in a relationship, because he loved her.

Vernon faces charges of 9 counts of burglary as well as stalking/dating violence. He is being held without bond.