Palm Coast Fugitive Who Taunted Sheriff With Where’s Waldo Cartoon Is Caught in D.C.

Thomas turned out not to have a valid driver’s license. During the traffic stop, he mentioned that Young had given him a forged $20 bill, and that–according to Young’s arrest report–Young had been forging bills from the house at 6A Ponderosa Lane and using it at various stores. Thomas told the deputy that he and Young were heading to Jacksonville that evening to spend some of the forged money.

Deputies searched the residence and found several bills in plain view, but didn’t determine at the time whether the bills were fake. They interviewed Young, who presented an identification card from Washington, D.C. He conceded that he’d printed fake money in the past–according to his arrest report–but that he’d stopped doing so half a year before. What scanning of bills he’d done, he said, was for tattoo stenciling.

Deputies got a warrant and searched the residence, which Young shared with others. Young signed a statement that said that “any and all illegal material found within their residence belongs to myself and no other persons.” He was told that he was not detained, and could leave the premises. He left.

He never returned.

Deputies found numerous counterfeit bills. They charged Young with possession of forged bills and possession of instruments for forging bills. The State Attorney filed the charges last March. Young was to be arraigned in April. He didn’t show. He was officially a fugitive. He also faced two charges of possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

In August, Young was featured on Sheriff Rick Staly’s weekly Fugitive Bingo video. A few days later Young, apparently writing under his own name from his Facebook account, dropped a comment on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page, in the form of a cartoon of Homer Simpson. The caption: “Waldo, where are you?” He was clearly taunting the sheriff’s office.

“Steven Young,” the Facebook page moderator wrote, “do the right thing and turn yourself in!”

He did not.

The agency’s fugitive unit contacted police agencies in Washington, believing that’s where Young was living. He was. Today, the The United States Marshals Service Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force and the USMS Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Young at his mother’s in Washington, the sheriff’s office announced in a release. He will be extradited back to Flagler County to face his charges.

“Taunting us on Facebook is only going to put you more in the spotlight than you already were,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, a hint that Young, by snubbing his nose at the agency, may have dropped his electronic fingerprints. “We didn’t find Waldo, but we did find Steven Young and soon he can be found at the
Green Roof Inn where he will face the charges against him. Let this be a lesson to other fugitives that we will never give up looking for you so turn yourself in. You are only delaying the inevitable.”

Young will be held without bond.