LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — A Lakeland man tried to evade deputies through … unconventional means when they tried to arrest him for aggravated battery, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office said at about 2:45 p.m. Saturday, deputies went looking for Johnny Yates, 41, at a home on West 10th Street, only to be greeted by a whiteboard with the message “Johnny Yates does NOT live here!”
Seems legit, right?
Well, the deputies didn’t think so.
The sheriff’s office said deputies saw a person leaving the home, who told them that Johnny was inside with several other people.
The deputies used a loudspeaker to command Yates to leave the home, but after about an hour, they used smoke to get the occupants to get out.
After still getting no response, deputies used a K9 to search the home. The sheriff’s office said the dog sniffed out Yates, who was hiding “in a modified chest of drawers.”
A criminal arrest affidavit said after his arrest, Yates told deputies he ate methamphetamine and “blue pills.”
Deputies said Yates and four other people who did not cooperate were arrested in the incident.