The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Daytona Beach resident last week in connection to the alleged robbery of a construction site in Palm Coast’s E Section. 36-year-old Andrew Atkerson was charged with grand theft and violation of probation.
According to the FCSO, the site that was robbed was a house under construction on Eric Drive. The homeowner to-be visited the construction site on May 5th and reportedly saw a truck pulling away with a tarp covering its bed. Upon looking around the site, the air conditioning condenser was said to have been discovered missing.
Investigators were able to determine that the truck was rented, and that Atkerson was the one who’d obtained it. An investigation was launched on May 6th. Detectives located and interviewed Atkerson, with him reportedly telling them he’d taken it ‘to give to someone in need’. He apparently said it didn’t fit that person’s home, and that he came to regret the theft. The condenser was delivered three days later to the FCSO Operations Center, by someone the FCSO says was a friend of Atkerson’s.
Atkerson was arrested by the FCSO in a traffic stop on Wednesday, July 9th. He was booked into the county jail on no bond, charged with grand theft and violation of probation. Previous charges of Atkerson’s in Flagler County include child neglect with great bodily harm and battery, as well as charges in other states such as carjacking, burglary, domestic violence, and battery by a prisoner.
“This repeat offender made a deliberate decision to steal from a construction site,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Thanks to the sharp eye of the homeowner and the investigative work of our detectives, our Real Time Crime Center, and our PACE unit, we were able to identify, locate, and arrest him. Let this be another reminder that if you steal from a construction site, especially homes under construction, you will be caught and checked into the [county jail].”
Crime doesn’t pay. Apparently this joker didn’t get that memo.