March 21, 2019
Local business owner Ryan Bell purchased the building
formally known as Deke’s Restaurant and installed a state of the art video
surveillance system. His simple decision to safeguard his own property led to
the arrest of Harold William Santry, Jr (8-19-64) of Chiefland.
Mr. Bell and his wife used social media to flood our local
area with the video his surveillance system captured of the then unknown suspect.
One of their followers who was shopping at Wal-Mart identified Santry Tuesday
afternoon. Santry, who must have been totally unaware of the video, was inside
Wal-Mart shopping too. LCSO Deputies and Chiefland Police Department Officers
responded to Wal-Mart and apprehended Santry.
Santry has a lengthy arrest history with arrests beginning in
1984. He has amassed 15 felony arrests with 9 felony convictions and two tours
through the Florida Department of Corrections. His crimes include battery on a law
enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, fleeing and attempting to elude
law enforcement, aggravated battery of LEO, theft, drugs and burglary just to
name a few.
Detectives executed a search warrant on his home and discovered
a wood chipper reported stolen in a Levy County case our deputies responded to
in 2015. Detectives also discovered Santry moved into Levy County in June of
2015. Multiple firearms were recovered and Santry has been charged with possession
of a firearm by a convicted felon as well as other crimes.
LCSO Detectives will be working on this case for months. Many
seized items have been identified, but most have not. Santry appeared to target
the areas between Chiefland and Fanning Springs. Residents who lived in these areas
between June of 2015 and March of 2019 and have had something stolen from their
home are asked to contact our Criminal Investigations Division at 352-486-5111 to
schedule a meeting. We will allow you to view all the property which has not
been identified. The process of cataloging the items will take time and we are
asking for your patience.
We are also asking our public if you had any interaction with
Santry or even purchased something from him to contact us. He is a very
accomplished criminal and we want to ensure you that you are not in trouble. We
just need to identify any stolen property he may have sold to the unsuspecting.
Additional cases identified this way would allow us to file more charges on him
and ensure he does not ever get out of jail again to victimize another Levy
County resident.