An alert homeowner on Garden Bay Court in Miramar Beach observed a person attempting to break into vehicles around three o’clock this morning. The homeowner contacted the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, and responding Sheriff’s Deputies quickly set up a perimeter of the area. A Deputy arrested Payton Fitzgerald after he climbed over the privacy fence on Walton Way. The 19-year-old faces a charge of loitering or prowling.
A few hours later Sheriff’s Deputies arrested an accomplice. Twenty-two-year-old Dane Patrick Hanlon Kemper was driving a BMW 528I automobile when he was stopped at the intersection of Shore Drive and Hidden lakes Drive. Walton County Sheriff’s Investigators found tools inside the car, which are commonly used in vehicle break-ins’. Kemper was transported to the Walton County Jail and faces driving with a suspended license first offense.
Over the next several hours, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office assisted by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputies and the Walton Correctional Institution K-9 tracking team searched for a third suspect. However, it was later determined that Fitzgerald and Kemper were the only two suspects involved.
Walton County Undersheriff Bill Chapman says, “The Walton County Sheriff’s Office will continue to use all resources available to solve property related crimes of those looking to take advantage of honest hardworking citizens in our communities’ ”.
[photo: Walton Correctional Institution K-9 tracking team searching neighborhood for the third suspect.]
