Perhaps Michael Windom, a convicted felon who got out of prison just weeks ago, is a man of routines–a routine that involved the parking lot of the apartments at Town center. It’s landed him at the Flagler County jail twice in the last 16 days on similar offenses that add up to to 13 charges, including a first degree felony count of trafficking fentanyl.
He posted bail on $56,500 bond the first time. He may not get to bond out this time: the state has filed a motion to revoke his bond even on the first set of charges. He’d finished a three-year prison sentence just last December.
The evening of January 12, Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Daniel Weaver was patrolling the area of the apartment complex next to Epic Theatre in Town center. He was looking for a particular vehicle, a Nissan Altima he tried to pull over the previous day. It had sped off “and was extremely reckless on I95,” Weaver wrote in his report. There was no pursuit, because the alleged offense the car’s occupant had committed did not rise to the level of a permissible pursuit.
The car was a rental. Weaver found who had leased it–a 24-year-old woman living at the apartment complex. Weaver, who was driving an unmarked car, spotted the rental. It had been backed in, but in a corner of the lot, not in a parking spot. He also spotted Windom. He was behind the car, apparently trying to unscrew the license plate. A black and green backpack was next to him.
Windom, 22, recognized the car, since it was the same that had been involved in the attempted traffic stop the day before. Windom ran off, Weaver reports, as Weaver shouted, “police, get on the ground.” He vanished into one of the apartments, but eventually complied and walked out, along with the woman who had leased the car. A search of the backpack allegedly produced various drugs in various amounts–10.5 grams of fentanyl, 2 grams of crack cocaine, 10.6 grams of methamphetamines, 1.3 grams of pot. Windom had $764. It was seized–asset forfeiture.
Windom, who is a Daytona Beach resident of 720 Westmoreland Drive (not a resident of the Town Center apartments) was booked at the county jail and released the next afternoon on pre-trial release.
Saturday night, Weaver was back at the apartment complex, on foot patrol. It was close to midnight. He spotted a Buick in the lot, its engine and headlights on. As he was observing the vehicle, the lights were turned off. No one got out of the car. Weaver approached. The woman who’d leased the car in the previous incident was at the wheel. Windom was in the passenger seat. They rolled down the window. Weaver reports that he allegedly saw “a green leafy substance scattered all over the front” of Windom’s hoodie and the front of his pants, ostensibly giving him authority to further the search without a search warrant. Windom, Weaver reports, was trying to dissimulate a bag. The deputy called for back-up.
Once there, the deputies ordered the two vehicle occupants out of the Buick and searched the bag he was trying to hide. Deputies allegedly found 3.7 grams of methamphetamines, 6.7 grams of pot, 1.2 grams of fentanyl, plus Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, an MDMA pill and a pill that couldn’t be identified. “The way each baggie was individually packaged separating different narcotic types is consistent with my training and experience to involve the sale of narcotics,” Weaver reported.
Deputies also located $954 on Windom. The woman said it was her rent money. Windom said he’d been working at Popeye’s since his arrest earlier in the month, that he’d received a $500 paycheck, and that his grandmother had given him $500 for bond. (He would not have been let out of jail earlier in the month without handing over $565 to the bondsperson.) The money was seized as asset forfeiture. Windom was booked at the jail on an additional $51,000 bond. In all, he faces the first-degree felony charge for alleged fentanyl trafficking, three second-degree felony charges, four third-degree felony charges, and a few misdemeanors. The two arrests in January were his first in Flagler. He was arrested in Volusia County on drug and assault charges in 2018, and on an out-of-county warrant on a burglary charge and drug possession.
Windom’s arrest Saturday was part of what the Sheriff’s Office described as a “busy weekend of community policing” that totaled 721 calls for service to the 911 dispatch center, according to a sheriff’s release issued this afternoon. The activity included the arrest of a suspect who fled a traffic stop, an arrest that required the assistance of FireFlight, the county’s emergency helicopter, and another who’d allegedly stolen a vehicle.
The agency also conducted 218 traffic stops and responded to 35 crashes. “This is a great example of all the hard work our deputies face daily,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in the release. “The deputies who worked this weekend had to act fast to track stolen vehicles, handle subjects resisting arrest and deal with a habitual poison peddler. These were not easy cases and I’m proud of the entire team for handling it all to keep our community safe.”
FlaglerLive relies on a strong core of donors. But they’re just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who daily depend on FlaglerLive for reliable, fearless reporting and analysis you cannot get anywhere else. If you’re still on the sidelines, we need you to join the Friends of FlaglerLive today. Elections, storms, the latest catastrophe - when dependable and factual local reporting will be more essential than ever, take a stand for integrity and have a direct voice in fostering serious journalism in your community. As little as $10 makes a difference, or better still, become a monthly donor: Become a "Friend of" FlaglerLive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible. Think of it as buying a "scoop", in every sense of the term!
Reader Interactions
Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
The Geode says
Yet in this community (as well as seemingly every other “community”) there are MURDERS roaming free.
that’s all…
Ray W. says
In certain homicide cases, a statutory provision and a corresponding rule of criminal procedure permits the State to file a motion seeking no bond status, with the threshold requirement being submission of enough evidence to the trial judge to establish that the “proof of guilt is evident and the presumption great.”
Since juries returned a verdict of not guilty in three of my eight first-degree murder trials, and since 1976, after a new first-degree murder statute was passed by the legislature, 30 people have been released from death row after being exonerated of their first-degree murder convictions, it is reasonable to argue that some people are not guilty of what they are accused of doing, including many of those accused of first-degree murder.
Once the Geode accepts the undisputed fact that sometimes both the prosecution and the arresting agency get their charges wrong, he will be in a better position to understand why things work as they do. At the time of our founding fathers’ decision to propose a liberal democratic Constitutional republic, even they accepted the common-law doctrine that it is better to let 100 guilty men go free than to convict one innocent man. Many of our rules of procedure and criminal statutes are based on that concept. Yes, people are still presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.
Concerned Citizen says
Ray W
We know that you had an illustrious carrer with the State. And we respect that. That being said you will be defensive of the sitting judges..
But..
Time and time again we see ridiculous bonds being set for serious charges. Charges that sometimes have no bsuniess having a bond set at all. And then there are the repeat offenders that get picked up the next day or so. And still post bond.
I have seen bonds posted time again for felon in posession of a fire arm and probation violation. Bonds posted for repeat offenders on aggrevated assault and serious drug posession charges. Shouldn’t there be some point where a Judge says no not this time. Ths time you sit and let the system run it’s course. So we aren’t endangering the community. And having our Law Enforcement Officer wash,rinse and repeat the process sometimes less than 48 hours later?
And as far as Judges not being soft on crime? One only has to look at Perkins record of sentencing to know that he favors the offenders. Especially in cases of sexual offenses.
You’re going to argue everything I just stated, And talk down like you did to the previous commenter and that’s fine. I was just a simple Deputy Sheriff before seeing the light and moving to Fire Rescue. And am not as educated as you are. What do I know about the system right?
While I’m on the subject I think it would be a great piece of investigative journalism for FL to do a piece on Flagler’s history of low bond and soft sentencing. Might be hard to dispute those facts.
A.j says
Palm Coast isn’t the quiet town it used to be. That young man need some help. He really does. I can imagine what the city will be like when the weather gets hot. This pass weekend was very cold.
Dennis says
Lived in Florida 10 years. Always soft on crime in Florida. Bail too low and the crime continues. Blame the soft judges.
Ray W. says
Dennis presents as a commenter who is just talking to hear his head roar.
Dennis knows that chief judges adopt bond schedules that establish First Appearances bond amounts for almost all categories of crimes. He knows that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. He knows that both the rules of criminal procedure and the statutory provisions applicable to First Appearances establish boundaries on what judges can do at those proceedings. He knows that prosecutors have the power to file motions to revoke bonds. He knows that probation officers have the power to file affidavits of violations of probation. He knows that State hearing officers have the power to conduct violation of parole hearings. He knows that, compared to most states, Florida prison sentences are longer than average. He knows that Florida’s legislature updates its sentencing guidelines every so often and that judges, for the vast majority of cases, follow the sentencing guidelines. He knows that the vast majority of criminal charges are resolved by plea offers made by the State and accepted by the defense and only then submitted to judges. He knows that Florida judges are not now soft on crime and never were.
Despite all that Dennis knows, he still can’t bring himself to accurately comment on what he already knows.
FlaglerLive included the fact that the State has already filed a motion to revoke bond. The article does not list a probationary sentence following the original three-year prison sentence, so it does not appear possible for a probation officer to file an affidavit of violation of probation. The $5650 fee charged by the bail bondsman to post the bond on the first set of new charges will not be refunded to whomever paid the bondsman to post bond. I suspect the next article will detail both the denial of any bond amount on the new charges and the First Appearances judge’s order of revocation of bond on the old charges. I suspect the defendant served 85% of his three-year prison sentence for the 2018 convictions and that the State hearing officer has started the process to hold an administrative hearing to return the defendant to prison to serve the remaining 15% of the original sentence.
Shark says
Same republican judge !!!!
Steve says
Not so good as a Criminal the Alleged may want to try a new Occupation. Have a nice stay. Never thought Rentals there was a good idea IMO
Skibum says
Excellent police work, deputy Weaver! After your hard work locating this felon twice, conducting investigations twice, arresting and booking him into jail twice, securing the evidence twice, and writing your reports twice, hopefully it will be sufficient to persuade the judge to revoke his bail and KEEP him locked up pending trials on both arrests so he can return to his assigned cot in the big house for many moons. It is worthless criminals just like this felon that have so deserved the term that many of us who have worked in law enforcement call “job security”. There are many more just like him still out there preying on society… go get ’em!
Johnathan says
Windom must missed his life in prison because it appears that is where he is headed again.
Bizarro Ben Crump says
I can’t wrap my brain around how our system even allows a bond for someone literally just out of state prison. Wasn’t he at least on parole? I thought if anyone on parole or probation that gets arrested for just about anything isn’t awarded any bond. He had to have been on parole if he just completed 85% of his 3 year sentence. He would be on parole until June 2022. I think even if you serve the absolute max you’re still supervised for a few months.
And these bondsmen! 1% now? You just waltz on down to the jail and bond out a dude that literally just walked out of a prison 2 weeks earlier for only 1%? Maybe we need to up the ante on that nonsense too! Make the bondsmen pay the county a hefty fee when their clients violate. Make it painful so that they too don’t arbitrarily contribute to the dereliction of our society. There is nothing, simply NOTHING that says this young man was going to straighten his dumb shit up anytime soon by peddling drugs hours or days after walking out of a three year bit. He should have been marched right back to Lake Butler, no bond, just a toothbrush and blanket.
Unbelievable. Bondmen, judge, et al.
By the way, he wouldn’t be parked there at those apartments loaded with the goods if there weren’t buyers there too.
Stripes and Bars says
What’s the subluminal message between the name “Bizarro Ben Crump” this arrest and your comment? This is part of the problem and white blindness. In your world even a legitimate, law abiding civil rights attorney gets lumped in with an alleged criminal.
You don’t want, your racist history or forefathers discussed, you claim you didn’t own slaves and etc. All you tough on crime self righteous, hypocrite’s never forget your second birth date, January 6th 2021. “Keep White washing History” even if the orange continues to seep through. Bunch of fake patriots!
Susanne says
Seems to be a pattern with criminal photos showing up in Flaglerlive articles. Wonder why that is? White supremacy? Systemic racism? Maybe the jerbil loving f-l-u-f-f Marxist could do a biased opinion piece on it.
Celia Pugliese says
I totally agree with the residents comments above. I also profoundly appreciate the dedicated investigation of sheriff officer Weaver risking his life on the traffic stop and on foot surveillance also of these vehicles what about the woman renting the cars for this felon and the granny providing his bond money charged as accessory to crimes helping him? She said the $964 was her rent money but he had it on him? C’mon lady you are his associate in crime. She needs also to go to jail and out of Palm Coast she brings crime here. I also have to say that those rentals in Town Center as many of us complained against while being approved were going to host these criminals as well, as Palm Coast has enough drug addicts to make a ton of $$$. Those condos should be demanded to install surveillance security cameras, connected to the sheriff department video system given the criminal element they attract to rent there. Digital video evidence helps catch these criminals. Some say this young man needs help sure he does, but while incarcerated. His expression of defiance says it all, like “you ain’t going to stop me” as I make easy and big money.
MikeM says
Another nimrod that doesn’t value his freedom. Too bad. He will be locked up for quite a while this time. And rightfully so.
ASF says
Is anyone going to investigate what the female accomplice with him at the apartments might be up to, at any point in time?