December 7, 2017
The Levy County Sheriff’s Office Uniformed Patrol Division
and the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) formally charged John William
Gardenier (9-28-93) Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Mr. Gardenier was a person of
interest in several burglary and theft investigations in the Inglis area of
Levy County as well as a suspect in a burglary reported on November 9th
by the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch – Caruth Camp which is located north of
the Town of Inglis on US Hwy 19.
The Uniformed Patrol Division was actively seeking Gardenier
to arrest him and on November 17th Deputy Lee Prine spotted him
riding a bicycle in Inglis near the Circle K located at the intersection of US
19 and SR 40. Deputy Prine attempted to stop and arrest Gardenier, but
Gardenier had other plans and ran. Gardenier was able to escape into a nearby
wooded lot and was not captured.
On November 21st CID applied for a warrant for
Gardenier’s arrest based upon evidence obtained through their investigation at
the Caruth Camp. A warrant was issued for Gardenier’s arrest for burglary,
grand theft and grand theft of a motor vehicle. A $100,000.00 bond assigned to
this warrant.
On November 27th, Deputy Prine spotted an
unregistered motorcycle being ridden on SR 40 in Inglis. Deputy Prine activated
his emergency lights, signaling the driver of the motorcycle to stop. The
driver did stop, but as Deputy Prine exited his patrol vehicle the driver
turned toward him, made a departing (not so nice) statement and sped away.
Deputy Prine was able to identify the driver of the motorcycle as Gardenier.
Gardenier fled into a nearby parking lot where he ditched the motorcycle and
fled on foot. He was able to evade capture again.
Gardenier’s luck ran out on December 1st when an
alert Citrus County deputy located and arrested him for the active Levy County
warrant. Gardenier was placed in the Citrus County Detention Facility and later
transferred to the Levy County Detention Facility on December 5th.
When Gardenier arrived at the Levy County Detention Facility additional charges
were filed by Deputy Prine.
Currently, Gardenier is being held in the Levy County
Detention Facility and has been formally charged with burglary, grand theft,
grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing and attempting to elude a law
enforcement officer, failure to register a motor vehicle, operating a
motorcycle without proper endorsement and three counts of resisting arrest
without violence. His total bond is $195,500.00.
The Criminal Investigations Division is still actively
working on additional cases in which Gardenier is a suspect. Anyone with
information that could assist these investigations is asked to contact
Investigator Mike McNeil at 352-486-5111, extension 266. Or, if you wish to
remain anonymous, please contact LevyCrimeStoppers at 1-877-349-8477. You could
be eligible for a cash reward.