William R. Westervelt, a resident of 56 Ryland Drive in Palm Coast, is among the Flagler County jail’s most frequent return visitors: nine recorded bookings in the last seven years on charges of burglary, armed burglary, theft, cruelty to animals, probation violations, dealing in stolen property and the odd drug charge.
If Westervelt is a frequent-flyer at the county jail, Jerry Falls would qualify for elite membership: he has four arrests in four months this year, and 18 in the past 10 years, not including a one-year sentence in state prison, from where he was released in 2012 after a conviction on grand theft and burglary charges. Falls’s charges include tampering or destroying evidence, tampering with a witness, burglary, felony battery, several misdemeanor battery, domestic battery, assault, theft, and driving on a suspended license.
On Thursday, both 27-year-old men were charged with fresh charges, though only Westervelt was arrested: Falls was already in jail on previous charges, so the burglary and dealing in stolen property charges were merely tacked on to what the latest he already faced: felony driving on a suspended license, illegal possession of methadone (the heroin substitute prescribed to addicts) and tampering or destroying evidence. Earlier this week the felony driving charge meant he’d violated the terms of his bond on the earlier charges, and bond was revoked. (He was towing a motorcycle with a rope and a passenger on the dirt bike when a cop stopped him on May 1.) The cop was so familiar with Falls’s arrest record that he knew his license had been suspended previously.
The latest theft charges stem from a sheriff’s investigation into a report by a Mondex (or Daytona North) resident that his 2008 Kawasaki ATV had been stolen for about 10 days–going back to the time when the victim’s daughter had likely told him that the dogs had been barking at someone outside. The shed where the ATV was parked was not locked. The keys were in the ATV. Neighbors had told the victim that they’d seen Falls ride the ATV.
A few days later, on May 1, a Cottonwood Street resident asked the sheriff’s office to trespass Westervelt–that is, to formally forbid him from stepping on her property again. She told the deputy that she knew him from high school but did not associate with him because of his alleged drug use, according to an arrest report. And she told the deputy that Westervelt had ridden over to her house on a green Kawasaki ATV that matched the description of the one reported stolen a few days earlier.
On Wednesday, yet another Mondex resident told deputies that Falls and Westervelt had contacted her and tried to sell her the green Kawasaki ATV for $400 a week earlier. Falls had told the prospective buyer that he needed the money to bail someone out of jail. The resident bought the ATV for $200, and said she’d pay the rest when she got a bill of sale. Only later she heard that the ATV was actually stolen property, she told deputies. When she did, she called the owner and returned the ATV to him.
The owners of the ATV had another piece of evidence that tied the alleged theft to Westervelt and Falls: during the alleged theft, Westervelt dropped a Galaxy tablet on the owner’s property. The owner took hold of the tablet and saw several messages between Falls and Westervelt alluding to the theft.
Asked about the ATV by deputies, Falls, speaking from jail, denied having anything to do with the theft. Westervelt said he had permission to ride the ATV, and that the tablet belonged to Falls, not to him.
Both men were charged in connection with the theft and sale of the ATV, originally valued at $4,000. The ATV was reported stolen on April 30. Westervelt is still in jail as of this evening, on a bond of $17,500. Falls remains in jail, his bond revoked.
anonymous says
What else is new here #
woodchuck says
Both class acts.
r&r says
People like this don’t hesitate to break the law because nothing’s going to happen to them.
Flatsflyer says
What ever happened to Three Strikes and Your Out. We need a tough Judge who will end this cycle of incompetence once and for all. They are making a mockery out of our legal and criminal systems. If they where a minority they would have been accidentally shot by the police years ago!
Sherry says
Why? Why? Why? does our county have this merry-go-round of addicted drug users convicted over and over again for criminal activity. . . yet being released back in public . . . just to continue in their lives of crime. They obviously are not going to have some sort of self created epiphany to change their lives into anything close to law abiding and healthy. Judges. . . can’t you have them committed to some sort of drug rehabilitation institution? Oh yeah. . . I forgot. . . we have plenty of money for jails. . . but NOT for treatment to keep people out of jail!! What a continuous injustice to their victims and waste of two young lives!!!!
Bc. says
It’s rediclouis that they don’t get some hard time.
GT says
Why are these two losers out on the street, put them in a cell and weld the door shut before they break into someones house and the homeowner gets arrested for shooting them dead! When will the court wake up?
Geezer says
It’s almost funny how dumb some people can be, but in reality
it’s a human tragedy, and a cautionary tale of what illegal drugs
can do to a brain. (Disclaimer: this is under the assumption that
there are neurons with branching dendrites to begin with.)
———————————————————————————–
Tonight’s dinner suggestion: calf brains, breaded and fried,
complemented by a lovely Chianti. Pwaff!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/how-to-turn-cow-brains-into-a-delicious-fried-snac?utm_term=.dqmk3P6gw#.emlEzY28D
anonymous says
Great ppl we got out on streets.
Sherry says
Cher Geezer! Bonjour from jolie Beauvais, France! Tonight’s menu: Home made soupe Le Pistou avec confit du canard. . . cest bon! Avec, vin rouge. . . Bordeaux. La vie este belle!
Dave says
This is a perfect example of our failed justice system.
Heading North says
And the state attorneys keep making so called “plea deals” with them so they don’t have to go to court (but can still claim a conviction for the states records), and the criminals get probation for the lesser offense they plead to — thus the never ending cycle continues!!!!!
Crying for HELP says
Sounds like it is time for the county to not only open a homeless shelter but an residential treatment facility—Stewart Marchman is a joke! If these people don’t get help and keep getting released from jail they will repeat what they are doing. It is too costly to keep throwing people in jail and these are not crimes that carry life sentences…the problem is too big. I am thankful these people got their property back.
Geezer says
Sherry:
Vous nous manquez beaucoup.
But enjoy your European adventure!
What other countries are you and your husband stopping in?
–Le Geezer
anonymous says
This county is going down hill thanks to the judicial system. It completely sucks. The state arty is right up there with then. This crappy wouldn’t fly in Broward County. But, this is the good old boy system.
anonymous says
Palm coasts finest at work.it just keeps getting better and better.
footballen says
Well if the cops keep putting them in jail why is the prosecutor and judge failing to do their jobs by keeping this scum locked away for good?
Chalcedony says
What will it take for these two to win a trip to the state prison?