Three out-of-county individuals were arrested after they sent various law enforcement agencies on a chaotic chase through the Upper Keys on Monday morning.
Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies and the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office were assisting the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in an unlicensed contracting investigation near MM 90 in Islamorada around 11 a.m., when three individuals jumped into a truck and drove away.
Officers started chasing the vehicle as it headed north on U.S. 1. The truck’s tires were spiked during the chase. At one point, the truck was driving the wrong way on U.S. 1 as other vehicles moved out of the way.
The truck eventually stopped at Gilbert’s Resort & Marina parking lot. According to Sheriff Rick Ramsay, a man and woman got out of the vehicle while a younger man took over and attempted to drive away and hit several police cars.
Deputies, with assistance from Florida Highway Patrol, arrested a mother and son, 44-year-old Denise Michelle Bennett, of Fort Lauderdale, and 19-year-old Jonathan Mitchell. The father, however, managed to escape during the chaotic moments.
A search ensued with help from Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
During the search, Ramsay said a law enforcement officers spotted two individuals fishing. They approached the men and asked if they saw anything unusual. One man replied “no” and that they were fishing for hours.
Law enforcement was working to retrieve information about the registered owner of the truck. When they did, they realized that the man who had escaped them changed his clothes and was indeed fishing alongside another man. They returned to arrest 46-year-old Butch Anthony Stevens, of Fort Lauderdale.
“It was a chaotic scene that went on for hours trying to get containment,” Ramsay said. “We tried to get a drone to find the guy around the bridges, restaurant and mangroves.”
Ramsay said the 69-year-old who was originally fishing, but lied to help Stevens evade capture, received a notice to appear in court. On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office identified the man as Felix Esquijarosa.
Stevens had several out-of-county warrants for unlicensed contracting and other related crimes. He was charged with fleeing and eluding, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, battery on a law enforcement officer, unlicensed contracting, obstruction of justice and having no driving license.
Bennett was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, while Mitchell was charged with fleeing and eluding, criminal mischief and resisting arrest.
