Felons found sleeping in Polk County man's bed after break-in
LAKELAND (FOX 13) - Following a five-day bender celebrating a recent release from jail, the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested two felons found sleeping in another man's bed.
Jaquel Fleming, 18, and Keilow Roundtree, 23, are now back in the county jail; this time charged with burglary, grand theft, criminal mischief and resisting arrest.
Once in custody, the two admitted to breaking into a home "to party and smoke weed in celebration of Fleming's recent release from jail," according to a news release.
Early Wednesday morning, Kit Thompson returned to his home on Old Hwy 37 to check the mail. Since late October, he has been living with and taking care of his mom, who's fighting cancer.
As Thompson opened up, walked through his front door and looked to his right into the bedroom, he saw two strange men sleeping in his bed.
"I promptly turned right around and walked right back out the door," Thompson explained. "The initial reaction was, 'hmm, I better call the cops.'"
So he did, and within ten minutes deputies surrounded the home.
"We told the people to come out. They refused," Carrie Horstman, Polk Co. Sheriff's Office Spokesperson, said. "We told them we were going to bring the dog in. We brought the dog in. Then they tried to crawl out of a window, and we caught them."
Once back inside, Thompson noticed three air conditioning window units were gone. Purple paint covered the floors. A guest room appeared to have been poorly redecorated with trash and phantom mattresses.
Thompson said he'd rather set his bed on fire than ever use it again.
In all, he estimates $3,800 in damage.
"I don't know what to do about cleaning up," Thompson said. "Even if they didn't destroy the place, the cleanup alone is just a lot of work, and physically I'm not going to be able to do it."
Thompson is struggling with a recent back injury and hopes family members will help him get his home back to normal.
As for Roundtree and Fleming, he said, "I hope they don't come back out of jail or at least learn enough not to go in somebody else's house."
In the news release, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd described the break-in as "a scary take on the three little bears nursery rhyme. These two recently released felons thought they'd find a comfy bed in someone else's house, steal their things and throw paint around, in celebration of being out of jail. Well, guess what guys? The party's over."
Between Fleming and Rountree, they've collectively been arrested 13 times before.