- November 7, 2024
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The 21-year-old man arrested for burglarizing the Roma Court Academy on Christmas night told deputies he'd slept there after leaving his mother's house because he didn't like her rules — including her ban on smoking pot.
Markell Devaris Peck told Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies who arrested him at about noon Jan. 19 that he was a transient, and had been sleeping in the parking garage beneath the academy building because he didn't have a place to stay after leaving his mother's house.
When the weather got chilly, he said, he walked to the academy building's second floor, where he found an open door and entered the building.
He stayed there "for a few days on and off," according to an arrest report, after "he chose to not stay at his mother's residence due to her making him follow rules and not smoke marijuana."
Roma Court Academy staff discovered the burglary Jan. 2 and reported it to the Sheriff's Office, turning over surveillance video that showed the burglar and noting that the burglar had stolen an LG tablet, a speaker and some Christmas cards that had contained money for employees.
School staff also found a small sleeping area with a mattress, pillows and some personal belongings in the laundry room next to one of the building's classrooms. Some juice and food that had been left in the classroom was missing.
Detectives caught Peck after they found at the school a VyStar Credit Union bank deposit slip with an incomplete account number, and linked it to Peck after subpoenaing the credit union for the name and photograph of the person who'd made the deposit.
A detective found Peck on Brushwood Lane. Peck had with him an LG tablet that matched the description of the one stolen from the school. He said he knew why the deputy had approached him, and admitted to talking the tablet and the money from the Christmas cards, and to consuming some food and juice that had been left in the classroom. (He'd used the missing speaker, he said, but not stolen it — he said it was still somewhere at the school.)
Deputies charged Peck with burglary and with grand theft from a building. He also has a pending court case from an October 2016 charge of possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis.
