Miguel Antonio Moreno, a 36-year-old Palm Coast resident of Westhampton Drive, died in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Shores Boulevard in St. Johns County Thursday evening.
According to a brief release by the Florida Highway Patrol, Moreno was being pursued by St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputies. The pursuit began in Flagler County. Deputies had deployed spike strips at the U.S. 1 intersection. Moreno’s Chevy Suburban struck one of the spikes, collided with another vehicle (the 56-year-old driver suffered minor injuries), and overturned several times, ejecting Moreno, who was not wearing a seat belt. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
A pair of Flagler County Sheriff’s reports indicate Moreno had shortly before been confronted by his girlfriend with video he had on his phone. Using a motion-activated app, he’d secretly recorded a video of his girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter getting undressed and stepping in the shower. Moreno, according to one of the reports, threatened to kill himself if he and his girlfriend could not work things out. He then fled the house.
Earlier in the afternoon the child’s mother had called law enforcement to report what she had uncovered after her daughter told her of an odd photograph she knew was in Moreno’s possession. The photograph showed the daughter’s empty bedroom. The angle suggested it had been taken automatically, after the phone had been placed strategically in the bedroom. Moreno denied it to his girlfriend, claiming he’d taken the shot himself.
He told her that he intended to “edit” the picture and send it to the 10 year old, which didn’t make sense to the child’s mother. She requested to look through Moreno’s phone.
She found an app called Yi Eye, which is described on its app-download page as a “remote home monitoring system, allowing you to easily place it wherever you want and monitor your home from every angle.” It is motion-activated. The child’s mother continued to scroll through the app and found the voyeuristic video of her daughter in the bathroom. Disgusted, the mother took a screenshot and sent it to her own phone, angering Moreno, who grabbed the phone, deleted the screenshot, then threatened to pitch the phone outside in a body of water outside the house.
He then told the woman that he would kill himself if they couldn’t work things out. She got her phone back, and Moreno left in his Suburban. The woman called police. After the initial investigation, sheriff’s detectives and the Department of Children and Families were notified of the situation and a Be on the Lookout, or BOLO, was issued for the Suburban.
Cpl. Richard Petkovsek was on routine patrol in the area of Palm Coast Parkway and Cypress Point Parkway. He’d gotten notice of the BOLO, which also noted that Moreno may have been on his way to pick up his son in the area of South Old Kings Road. Petkovsek noticed Moreno’s car readying to turn onto I-95 south, but at the last minute Moreno kept going straight.
Petkovsek maneuvered close to the Suburban and recognized Moreno from the image that had been transmitted to all local law enforcement. The car’s tag was also a match. Once the deputy was following the Suburban, Moreno started driving erratically, making an illegal U-turn then getting onto I-95 northbound, where he ignored Petkovsek’s attempt to pull him over. Moreno sped up to 100 mph instead. Petkovsek stopped the chase, in compliance with department policy, but kept driving.
Moreno exited at the 298 mile-marker interchange with U.S. 1 and headed north toward St. Johns County, where that county’s sheriff’s deputies picked up the pursuit and deployed the stop sticks. Petkovsek drove to the scene after the crash and confirmed that Moreno was the person who’d been driving the Suburban. Had he lived, Moreno would have faced arrest and a charge of video voyeurism involving a child younger than 16, a second-degree felony.
Atwp says
Are men that sick? Am sorry he is gone.
Lance Carroll says
Real men love children and real men do not commit this kind of criminal act. Good riddance to a stain on manhood and anyone whom defiles children.
Please do not assume that men are what you think?
Sincerely,
A real man,
Lance Carroll
JimboXYZ says
Well, that crime pretty much solved itself. Unfortunate there was a 2nd vehicle involved for whatever would be an insurance claim.
Eric says
If only all these sexual offender scumbags could face this happy ending result. There is a special place in hell for this sicko and all the others like him. May you rot hell.
* I’m sorry for the innocent person who was injured in this accident
Anne Smith says
Saved alot of money, in court cost, and jail time. I like self justice.
Jane Gentile Youd says
Anne Smith echos my words… Karma included
Pogo says
@Trump, are you reading this?
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+in+teen+dressing+room
Pogo says
@Small talk’in
Pogo says
@More small talk from the horse’s…
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=creepy+things+trump+has+said+about+his+daughters
LT C says
What, do we twist everything political now? This has nothing to do with politics. This is a perv who got what he deserved. I feel bad about the other driver involved but at least we are not paying for this pervert to spend years in prison on our dime. This story has nothing to do with Trump or Biden.
Local says
It does to lefties….everything has to do with Trump. Any disinformation helps their agenda. Because 1 out of 100 will believe it .
Again says
Right, lefties are 100% the ones with signs in the middle of palm coast parkway all the time looking for honks….
Chuck Wagon says
Lefties are to embarrassed by their president to go wave flags in public.
Wow says
And flying their nasty flags and nasty t-shirts and nasty bumper stickers. But just calm down you liberals. Sheesh.
T says
The irony right lol
PC Dave says
Good riddance to the pervert. I feel bad for the driver of the other vehicle, especially if he doesn’t have full insurance coverage. I was involved in an accident were I was struck by a vehicle fleeing the police. Thankfully, I was not injured, but, the insurance company for that vehicle refused to pay for the damages to my car because, and I quote
“The owner of the vehicle was running from the cops, which is a felony. And once the vehicle is being used in the commission of a felony, the policy becomes null and void”. And since I wasn’t injured, non of the billboard boys attorneys had any interest in my case. I did have full coverage, so my insurance paid for the repairs. But I still had to pay my deductible. I filled with the victim compensation fund to recover my deductible, but all that got me was a letter from a judge that said I could sue the person for the money. Yeah, because the guy going to prison for a few years is gonna be able to pay me.