A 38-year-old man on felony probation was arrested after the manager of a motel in Marion County accused him of damaging a room and stealing nearly $400 worth of items.
On Sunday, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the Orange Blossom Motel located at 17575 N U.S. Highway 301 in Citra in reference to a suspicious person who was on the premises. When the deputy arrived at the motel, a man, later identified as Simmon Wesley Setzer, was observed swinging a hammer around in the middle of the road.
The MCSO report indicated that Setzer appeared to be intoxicated, and he told the deputy that he had stayed at the motel during the previous week. He advised that he was returning to the motel to stay there again.
The deputy made contact with a manager at the motel who advised that Setzer was not going to be allowed to stay at the motel anymore. The manager informed the deputy that during Setzer’s previous stay, he allegedly damaged his room and stole various items.
According to the manager, Setzer’s motel room was “ripped up,” and the wiring had been disconnected from the outlets. The manager stated that the following items were missing from the room: a television remote, a microwave, the front panel of the air conditioning unit, and a coffee maker.
The motel estimated that $1,500 in damages were caused to the wiring in the room, and approximately $395 worth of items were stolen.
An employee at the motel informed the deputy that the hammer had been left behind the motel on a worktable. Not long after the hammer was set down, the employee advised that Setzer was seen swinging it in the road. The employee approached Setzer and was able to retrieve the hammer.
The deputy detained Setzer in handcuffs and placed him in the back of an MCSO patrol car. During a pat-down search, Setzer admitted that he had a “crack pipe” in his left pocket. The deputy found two glass pipes and a small broken glass bowl, and a burnt residue on the bowl later field-tested positive for marijuana.
Setzer agreed to an interview and told the deputy that his fiancée would occasionally visit the motel room during his stay, but she would not spend the night there. He denied any knowledge of how the items came to be missing or damaged during his stay.
Setzer stated that the motel’s staff had left his room “open,” which could have allowed for unknown individuals to enter his room. He also claimed that staff turned on a propane tank inside his room while he was gone, and he further claimed that a “large explosion” occurred in the room when he lit a cigarette.
While Setzer told the deputy that he had burn marks all over his body, the deputy was unable to observe any such marks. When asked about the hammer, Setzer stated that he saw it on a table, and he had grabbed the hammer with the intention of giving it to a friend.
A criminal history search of Setzer revealed that he was on felony probation.
Setzer was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $4,000 bond. He is facing a felony charge for criminal mischief ($1,000 or more in damages) along with two misdemeanor charges for first-degree petit theft (over $100 but less than $750) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.