A police K-9 unit helped track down a 19-year-old Ocala man accused of breaking into an unoccupied vehicle recently.
Shelley DeVaughn Cook Jr. was charged with burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and resisting an officer without violence, along with violating his probation from a prior burglary conviction.
Shortly before 5 a.m. March 7, an Ocala Police officer responded to a residence in the 700 block of NE 3rd Street, where the victim said he came out of his house and found a man wearing all black – later identified as Cook – in the front passenger seat of his vehicle with the door closed, using a cell phone flashlight to search the inside of the vehicle, according to the police report.
The victim said he confronted Cook, who said he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. The victim told Cook to empty his pockets to see if there were any items that were previously in the vehicle. Cook handed the victim a small black tri-fold wallet. The victim asked him for his name and Cook said, “Anton.” The victim then asked if Cook if he looked into the wallet would he find an ID with the name Anton. Cook replied, “Come on man, don’t do me like that,” and fled on foot northbound on NE 7th Terrace, the report said.
The victim gave the officer the wallet, which contained an ID with Cook’s name and address on it. A K-9 officer arrived on the scene with K-9 Eli and they started tracking Cook through the apartment complex at 710 NE 4th St., into Tuscawilla Park and northbound on NE Watula Avenue. Eli led officers north along the railroad tracks on NE 9th Street before turning around and heading south, according to the report.
Another officer reported seeing a man wearing all black climbing the fence from the railroad tracks into the Parkside Apartment Complex, 621 NW 2nd St. The officer chased the man but lost him in the complex. The K-9 unit arrived and Eli picked up the scent and led officers to the 1500 building, specifically the sidewalk between two apartments. After knocking on the first door and finding out Cook was not in the apartment, officers learned his sister lived in the other one. They knocked on that door and an unidentified man who answered eventually got Cook to come out, the report said.
Cook declined to speak about the incident and was taken to the Marion County Jail. He was still being held without bond as of Friday and is scheduled to appear in Marion County Court on April 6.