A woman’s alleged attempt to hide a convicted felon in her apartment home in Winter Haven, Florida landed her behind bars when the man, Demario Webster, 32, fell through the drywall of his hiding spot, according to the ABC Action News . Officers were patrolling the Abby Lane Apartment complex around 8 p.m. on Tuesday when they spotted a vehicle, belonging to 32-year-old Demario Webster, pulling into the parking lot.
The Winter Haven Police Department stated that Webster had three warrants for his arrest for violating probation.
When police officers ordered Webster to stop, he exited his vehicle and ran behind several buildings. That’s when an officer and his K-9 dog began searching for the felon on foot.
The K-9 directed officers to an apartment at 606 Evergreen Place Southwest. A 27-year-old female tenant, Chequita Alexander, opened the door and rejected the officers’ request to search the apartment for Webster, leading police to believe that she was hiding the convicted felon in her home.
Alexander reportedly told the officers to return with a search warrant. Another tenant approached the officer and said there was a crack above the shower in the drywall that wasn’t there before, indicating that someone had been in the attic.
A FUGITIVE fell from a woman’s ceiling in Winter Haven! He was hiding from @WHPoliceDept . pic.twitter.com/H5GXMBRDaS
— Andrea Lyon ? (@andrealyonnews) July 12, 2017
Moments later, a third tenant, Sandra Thompson, shouted: “He’s in here!” Apparently, Webster had fallen through a drywall in another tenant’s apartment. After falling, Thompson stated that Webster motioned for her to be quiet, but she continued to scream and alert police.
Police say Webster left the apartment after the tenant told him to get out. He was arrested without incident and booked into the Polk County Jail.
It was later uncovered that Webster entered Alexander’s home and told her that he was running from the police. In lieu of turning the convicted felon into police, she allegedly tried to help Webster escape.
Officers say he went into her attic and began crawling through several apartments until he fell through a drywall .
Webster is facing charges for violating probation as well as “resisting arrest without incident and three counts of unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling.”
Alexander was also arrested for resisting arrest without violence and accessory.
[Featured Image by Winter Haven Police Department]
