Stolen truck recovered; Homestead man arrested

A stolen F350 truck has been recovered and a Homestead man was arrested for fleeing from deputies in it early on Saturday.

Deputies in the Upper Keys are on particular alert when it comes to large pickup trucks because a number of them have been stolen within the past few months. When Deputy Matthew O’Neill spotted a white F350 truck at 6 a.m. northbound on U.S. One at the 97 mile marker of the highway, he asked dispatchers to check the truck’s tag through their computers. The tag turned out to belong to a different vehicle, so he turned on his lights and siren to pull the truck over.

Instead of stopping, the truck fled. It made numerous dangerous high speed maneuvers in an attempt to avoid being apprehended, once almost hitting the deputies vehicle and a second vehicle, braking suddenly, running stop signs and then driving through a parking lot. The driver finally lost control of the truck, crashing into a boulder and some bushes on 2nd Avenue. The driver jumped out and ran from the truck and was seen by witnesses running into the Denny’s Restaurant nearby. He was apprehended without incident inside the restaurant. He was identified as 36 year old Oyantay Perez of Homestead.

A further check on the truck revealed it had been stolen on November 11th from a residential parking spot on Angler’s Way in Islamorada.

Perez was arrested. He was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing an deluding police and resisting arrest. He was booked into jail.

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