Lakhram Mahadeo, the Palm Coast resident who drew attention as the so-called “Iron Man” bank robber in 2013, served eight years in prison and was serving probation for that armed robbery of the Wells Fargo branch on Belle Terre Parkway, was arrested again on an arson charge stemming from a bizarre incident involving a semi truck he allegedly set on fire after it broke down.
Mahadeo, 36, was arrested Monday while he was at his dentist’s office on Belle Terre Parkway. He faces a second-degree felony charge, and is being held on $25,000 bond on that charge at the Flagler County jail, and on no bond on the probation violation charge.
The arrest concludes a year-long investigation that began after a semi truck fire and explosion at 1780 North State Street in Bunnell, the truck parking and storage facility on May 17, 2023. The explosion and the fire critically injured Mahadeo, who suffered third-degree burns and was flown to a burn unit in Orlando. The truck was demolished, its front windshield blown out and the body of the truck left unrecognizable.
Mahadeo had been driving the 2012 Freightliner previously. Through warrants and subpoenas, the investigation by the state Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives reconstructed Mahadeo’s steps leading up to the explosion. On May 1, 2023, the truck broke down on I-95 in Jacksonville. Mahadeo paid $1,050 to have it towed to the Bunnell yard two days later. The tow driver dropped the truck’s driveline to facilitate the tow. He was reimbursed for the load he’d been transporting.
Mahadeo still lived at the same Palm Coast home as he did at the time of the robbery in 2013–10 Waystone Place. On May 16, the investigation shows, he bought $36 worth of gas from the station on Pine Lakes Parkway, a mile and a half from his home. That day he rode a bike to travel the nearly eight-mile distance between his home and the truck lot, where he allegedly set the fire and got burned. (The security cameras at the lot were not functioning.)
Video surveillance captured him going from house to house, banging on doors and seeking help before he collapsed at 118 Grand Reserve, where paramedics tended to him. He was wearing a hoodie, gloves and no shoes. He carried no cell phone or identification. His bike was found in front of 122 Grand Reserve.
“”While on scene,” the investigator reported seeing at the truck lot, “I found two suspicious containers that were oddly placed,” both containing liquid that would turn out to contain gasoline. A forensic investigation found gasoline on the clothes Mahadeo had been wearing at the time of the fire.
Mahadeo underwent several surgeries and was in the intensive care unit for days. He spoke to the investigator on may 31, 2023. He told the investigator he had no memory of the incident, only that he was at the lot “doing maintenance” on the truck. He also told the investigator that he’d retained an attorney, Peyton Quarles, who had advised him not to speak to law enforcement.
Quarles had represented Mahadeo during the “Iron Man” case, though at his first appearance before a judge on the arson charge, Mahadeo requested a public defender. The robbery case took on that name because Mahadeo wore an Iron Man disguise when, armed with a gun, he robbed the bank on June 20, 2013, after ordering everyone on the floor. He stole $2,300. He had been having financial difficulties and been kicked out of a house at the time. He eventually pleaded to eight years in prison and seven on probation, his probation running to 2028.
When Mahadeo was seeking early termination of his prison sentence (he cited dangers posed by Covid and overcrowding), he had included in his plea to the court an undated letter from his pastor, Scott Brumfield of the The Pentecostals of Palm Coast Church. Mahadeo’s actions, the pastor wrote the court, “were completely uncharacteristic of his nature. Lakhram is a young man of honesty and integrity, who has proven to be community minded by his actions the last several years here in Palm Coast as well as his time spent previously in the military serving our country.”
The pastor also wrote that Mahadeo “had never been before the courts previously, nor I believe is likely to again.” The pastor referred to Mahadeo’s wife and young son (the child was 7 at the time).
