WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — A local man’s attempt to ghost the law ended in handcuffs Tuesday morning after a simple case of mistaken identity—on his part.
It all started around May 12, when the Polk County Sheriff’s Office got a call about a “suspicious person” hanging around behind the 7-Eleven on Dundee Road. Deputies were already swarming the neighborhood, though they weren’t originally looking for a loiterer; they were actually hunting for suspects who had just bolted from a nearby hit-and-run crash.
A deputy eventually spotted a man near a church who fit the description of the suspicious person from the convenience store. When the officer approached and asked for his name, the man claimed he was “David.”…