Two men were arrested in Osceola County Monday after being accused of breaking into several vehicles and stealing credit cards and guns from them in February, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to Osceola deputies, 21-year-old Jeffrey Gilbert and 23-year-old Demonta Adkins targeted the county’s Westside Boulevard corridor in February, a tourist vacation area where they broke into vehicles to steal credit cards and firearms.
The suspects then drove to a nearby Walmart where they purchased Visa gift cards with the stolen credit cards while wearing ski masks.
“One of the guys even bought flowers for his girl on a stolen credit card,” Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said. “That’s a real winner right there, ladies.”
The sheriff’s office said that during surveillance of the two men, they were later spotted in the Solara Resort, once again burglarizing vehicles. Adkins was apprehended by Osceola deputy K9 units, but the second suspect, Gilbert attempted to flee. When Gilbert was finally caught by deputies he had had a loaded handgun in his bag. It was later found that Gilbert had been arrested in Lake County last year “in reference to the same crime trend,” and had been out on bond for those charges, deputies said.
Gilbert faces charges of grand theft of a firearm, petit theft, armed burglary and five counts of vehicle burglary for February’s burglaries, He is held on a bond of $47,750. Adkins has active warrants for four counts of burglary, according to deputies.
