Two Jacksonville men are incarcerated Monday in the Volusia County Jail, charged with a series of crimes across multiple counties involving Apple Watches. According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, Tavaris Kelly, 37, and John Harkless, 33, stole four Apple Watches worth nearly $2,000 from the T-Mobile store on Palm Coast Parkway.
Deputies responded to the store Friday night and an employee told them she watched the two men, wearing construction uniforms, steal the watches and then drive off in a U-Haul van. While at the store, the deputies learn of a similar incident the previous night at a T-Mobile store in Jacksonville.
Flagler County deputies used their Real Time Crime Center technology and were able to track a U-Haul van traveling south on I-95 toward Volusia County. When deputies tried to stop the van, it took off. Daytona Beach police found the U-Haul abandoned in an apartment complex.
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Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputies were notified that Kelly and Harkless were arrested at a Walmart by Daytona Beach police. The men were trying to return the stolen Apple Watches, police say.
“The technology we have in place allows us to find these people quickly and law enforcement knows no boundaries when it comes to working together in our area to apprehend criminals,” the sheriff said. of Flagler County, Rick Staley. “I suggest that Jacksonville felons stay in Jacksonville because we will catch you and arrest you if you come here.”
The men face a list of charges including grand larceny and trafficking in stolen property. Harkless, also has two active Duval County warrants for armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon and theft with a total bail of $1,000,000. Kelly’s Jacksonville arrest history is several pages long, with 23 felony arrests.
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