Crime & Public Safety
Report: Teen, man found hiding in hotel dumpster in Florida
A man was charged with loitering and prowling and a teen was taken into custody early Sunday after they were found in a dumpster in Ponte Vedra Beach, officials said.
One of the suspects, identified as 20-year-old Denzel Stefan White, is in the St. Johns County Jail. The second suspect, a 16-year-old boy, was turned over to juvenile justice authorities.
On Sunday at 2:45 a.m., a St. Johns County deputy made a traffic stop on a 2015 Kia that allegedly ran a red light. The police report said the driver began to drive erratically and entered a southbound lane while traveling northbound, and then stopped on top of shrubbery in the median.
The two occupants fled the scene on foot and the car became engulfed in flames, the report said.
Deputies said they learned that the car had been reported stolen in Duval County.
Deputies said they searched the area for the two occupants and found two suspects hiding in a dumpster at a hotel.
The deputy said they could not positively identify the two as the same people who left the stolen car. The suspects could not explain why they were hiding in the dumpster and were taken into custody on the loitering and prowling charges, deputies said.
Deputies said they are investigating four car burglaries and a car theft that happened in Ponte Vedra Beach between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
The stolen car was a 2013 black Chrysler Town and Country minivan with a Florida tag of BTXI81 taken from the driveway of a home..
Another car at that residence, along with two others nearby, were reportedly burglarized during the same time frame.
A neighbor reported a car burglary as well.
Among the items stolen were money, DVDs and a pair of sunglasses.
Deputies said there was no sign of forced entry into any of the cars.
They said they don't know if the two suspects are connected with the auto burglaries because district detectives are still investigating.
