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Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.
PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Alicia Manautou. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.
The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.
Four teenaged Orlando-area boys, all with serious criminal history, were arrested early Thursday morning, January 28, 2021, while they were in the process of committing car burglaries in the Four Corners area of Davenport.
The quick arrests were made possible due to a witness who saw the suspects in action and reported it immediately and by the use of the Live911 system used by PCSO deputies, which allowed them to hear the actual 911 call as it was happening.
Responding deputies were able to quickly respond to the scene at Woodsprings Suites on Bella Cita Boulevard where the burglaries were witnessed. PCSO was assisted by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
The 911 call was received by the Emergency Communications Center at 3:39 a.m., and the first deputies arrived in the area immediately and began setting up a perimeter.
The suspects fled from the scene in a white Honda Civic. At one point, the vehicle sped past a deputy who was on foot, bumping him as they passed. The vehicle soon after crashed into a curb and the four suspects bailed out of the car and ran away.
Two of the suspects were caught immediately. A third suspect was found hiding in the bathroom on the Champion’s Gate golf course. A PCSO K-9 unit, working with support from an OCSO Air Unit, was able to track the fourth suspect to a heavily wooded retention pond, finding the suspect partially submerged in water.
The Honda Civic used by the suspects had been reported stolen out of Orlando three hours prior to the car burglaries in Polk County.
“I can’t tell you how many times we have had people, usually juveniles, coming down here from the Orlando area to burglarize and steal from the good people of Polk County. And it usually doesn’t end well for the suspects either. At some point, they have to realize that it’s not working out for them to come down to Polk to commit their crimes.” Grady Judd, Sheriff
The suspects arrested were:
Johnny Dixon, 16. Dixon’s prior criminal history consists of 10 felonies and 8 misdemeanors, with charges to include: multiple conveyance burglaries, burglary of a dwelling, grand thefts, dealing in stolen property, possession of marijuana in excess of 20 grams, criminal mischief, petit thefts, resisting, and trespassing. He also has numerous probation violations and failures to appear.