Florida man wanted by cops leaves goofy whiteboard message but fools no one
Johnny Yates was wanted for aggravated battery, false imprisonment and tampering in second degree felony
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A Florida man tried to evade police in unusual fashion, scribbling a message on a whiteboard that officers found hard to believe.
Officers with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office were looking for 41-year-old Johnny Yates at a home in Lakeland when they were greeted by a whiteboard message hanging outside the home that informed them that "Johnny Yates does NOT live here!"
"Gee…a dry-erase board never lied to us before—should we believe it?" the sheriff's office quipped in a Facebook post detailing the incident.
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However, deputies were apparently not fooled by the message, and their suspicions were soon confirmed by a person seen leaving the house who informed them that Yates was inside the house "with a few others."
Officers then surrounded the house and used a loudspeaker to demand Yates exit, though nobody in the house responding.
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"Enough was enough," the Sheriff's Office said in the Facebook post, adding that deputies then deployed "Surrender Smoke" inside the home and caused four people to exit.
Yet Yates – who was wanted for aggravated battery, false imprisonment and second-degree tampering -- remained stubborn and was still nowhere to be seen, the sheriff's office said.
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Deputies used a "second helping" of the smoke before fine releasing a K-9 to locate the suspect, according to the office.
According to the post, Yates was eventually found hiding in a modified chest of drawers and was arrested and transported to jail.
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Meanwhile, the four other uncooperative occupants of the home received a "parting gift" of charges resisting and "an all-expense paid trip to Grady Judd’s Bed & Breakfast," the post said.