Valrico residents relieved after man accused of tossing nails on Miller Road arrested

Man arrested for throwing nails in roadway

After several months of flat tires, neighbors in Valrico are relieved after a man was arrested for throwing nails into the roadway. Hillsborough County deputies said this has been happening for five months near Miller Road. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports. 

VALRICO, Fla. - Hillsborough County deputies said they arrested the man they believe is responsible for placing nails on the roadway, and neighbors in Valrico said they are relieved. 

Felix Uresti is accused of throwing hundreds of nails on to Miller Road nearly 30 times since last fall. Deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office were able to make an arrest thanks to an anonymous tip and video surveillance.

RELATED: Valrico man accused of tossing hundreds of nails on a street more than 2 dozen times: HCSO

What they're saying:

Joe Gliksman was affected by this incident, and he said he has been advocating for his neighbors since the beginning. 

"It's great news that they finally caught the guy," Gliksman said. "I was amazed they caught him. I was wondering how are you ever going to catch this guy."

Gliksman dedicated a lot of his free time to picking up the nails.

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"I couldn't imagine why someone's doing this unless they owned a tire store, and they're trying to get business or something," Gliksman said.

It even sparked neighbors to get together online. Gliksman said there's even a Facebook page called "Have you been Nailed?" The group has more than 800 people in it, discussing how much harm this has caused them.

"Dozens and dozens of people have posted up. They're suffering," Gliksman said. "In fact, one lady said she was on her way to a serious incident that she couldn't get to, because she had a couple of flat tires, so it caused a lot of people a lot of harm."

Felix Uresti's first court appearance

What we know:

On Friday, Uresti appeared in court for the first time.

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Pictured: Felix Uresti.

"Mr. Uresti, you're charged with four counts of criminal mischief, $200 or less," said Judge J. Logan Murphy, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court. "One count of criminal mischief, $1,000 or more. And one count of throwing a deadly missile at, within, or into a vehicle."

Court documents said Uresti threw the nails into the road, because he believed he was being followed by unknown vehicles and law enforcement was ignoring him. He was given a nearly $1,300 bond with conditions.

"No contact with any listed victims, no contact with any listed offense locations. I'm imposing a private GPS monitor as a condition of release over the objection of the public defender concerning financial resources," Murphy said. "No driving, no nails, screws, tacks, or other similar construction materials, and the defendant may not possess any weapons."

What's next:

Now, neighbors hope to see justice served.

"I don't know if he has to pay for all these damaged tires and serve time for it," Gliksman said. "I guess it's up to the judicial system, but a lot of people are owed. A lot of people suffered with having to get their tires fixed."