A wanted Florida man apparently thought swimming across a pond might be his ticket out of an encounter with deputies. Unfortunately for him, law enforcement had already figured out where he was going.
According to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were searching for Anthony Candelario on August 3 after receiving a BOLO for a vehicle previously involved in a traffic stop. The vehicle was reportedly connected to Candelario, who had two active felony warrants for probation violations.
Deputies eventually located the vehicle and spotted Candelario getting out of the passenger side. Rather than stick around, authorities say he immediately took off running.
That prompted a coordinated response involving the Sheriff’s Office’s STAR Aviation, Motors, Patrol, and K9 units. With quite a few people now looking for him, Candelario apparently decided his best escape route involved getting wet.
Deputies Were Already Waiting Across the Pond
STAR Aviation was able to locate Candelario from the air as deputies continued searching for him on the ground. Authorities say he initially ran toward a nearby residence while attempting to evade them.
Then, he entered a pond.
Candelario reportedly began swimming across the water in another attempt to get away, but there was one pretty major problem with that plan. Deputies had already positioned themselves on the opposite side.
After making it across the pond, Candelario was taken into custody without further incident. That’s an awful lot of running and swimming just to ultimately arrive exactly where deputies wanted him.
Candelario was arrested on a new charge of Resisting an Officer Without Violence in addition to the two active warrants for probation violations.
Commenters Joke About Florida’s Other Pond Patrol
Considering this happened in Florida, several commenters immediately pointed out one potentially significant flaw in Candelario’s decision to jump into a pond: alligators.
One person joked that Osceola County needed a “K-9 gator” specifically for suspects who decide to escape through the water. Another was even more direct, joking that deputies should have simply let the gators handle the situation.
However, much of the discussion underneath the Sheriff’s Office’s post wasn’t actually about Candelario at all. Instead, several people demanded information about Recon, a K9 that commenters claimed had served with the department for years before ending up at a shelter.
“What’s the update on K9 Recon?” one person asked, while another demanded to know why the dog was in a shelter after serving the department. Other commenters similarly called on the Sheriff’s Office to provide an explanation or statement regarding Recon.
As for Candelario, his escape attempt proved considerably less complicated. He ran from deputies, jumped into a pond, swam all the way across, and emerged to discover law enforcement had beaten him there.