Man charged with burglary
A man waiting for his mother in her car in the driveway of their home early Dec. 18 noticed a man opening the front door and grabbing the GPS instrument on the dashboard, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff ’s Office report.
He yelled at the suspect and chased him through a neighbor’s yard to the entrance of a trail to a local park. After hearing voices in the park, he stopped chasing the suspect, who had dropped the GPS unit but apparently kept the cord, valued at $10.
Deputies went to the park and saw two white men walking on the trail, one of whom matched the description given by the victim.
The suspect, 22-year-old Jonathan Yates, asked if he could go and wake his parents nearby to let them know what was going on. The deputies said he could.
Yates left but did not return quickly. When deputies found him, he had changed clothes and appeared “extremely anxious.”
The victim identified Yates as the man who had taken the GPS. However, when deputies tried to arrest him, he resisted being handcuffed and placed on the ground. Deputies also had to carry him to a patrol car and threaten to use a Taser on him to get him inside.
Yates was charged with burglary to a conveyance with an unarmed person inside, theft and resisting an officer.