Crime Archive

A Winter Garden (Fla.) man was arrested in earlier this month following a yearlong investigation into an illegal gambling house being operated in Crestview. According to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Lin Zhuo, 56, kept and permitted a gaming room and slot machines at The Lucky Pearl Internet Café, located at 779 North Ferdon Blvd. for the purpose of gambling. The warrant report for Zhou states the offenses occurred from Jan. 18, 2021, to Nov. 12, 2021.

Walton County – An on-duty Walton County Code Compliance Officer is arrested for violating an injunction for protection against stalking.

On Saturday, Nov. 5, Walton County Sheriff’s Office arrested code compliance officer, Thomas Brennan after he was found to be actively violating an injunction in place since March of this year.

A Crestview High School student is charged with two felonies after an investigation allegedly revealed he had armed himself with a razor blade in preparation for a planned off campus fight after school on Fri., Oct. 14.

According to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, information was obtained that Tyler Mahler, 16, has a weapon in his possession and intended to hurt a 15 year old girl. The arrest report says Mahler was found with silver razor blade in a Ziploc bag in his right jeans pocket on school grounds.

A Crestview man was arrested after he allegedly had a nine year old child drive him to his house on Sun., Oct. 9.

According to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the incident began when a witness spotted a car entering Oak Hill Road from a neighborhood around 8 a.m. on Mon., Oct. 10. The arrest report said the witness suspected the driver of the vehicle may be intoxicated as the vehicle was “all over the roadway.”

A Crestview man was arrested after he allegedly attempted to flush cocaine and methamphetamine down a toilet.

Marlin Reynolds, 32, who is on felony probation, faces a long list of new narcotics charges following the execution of a narcotics search warrant by members of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Drug Task Force.

A Crestview man was arrested following a shooting at a pool facility.

According to Crestview Police Department, the incident began on Wed., Oct. 5^th, at 6:35 p.m., when Crestview Police responded to multiple calls of shots being fired at the Redstone Estates Pool area off East Redstone Avenue.

A Crestview man who was arrested after an attempt to flee from a traffic stop, had two more felonies added to his rap sheet after deputies served a search warrant on his residence.

An investigation by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office involving the possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a laptop led to a storage unit in Crestview and the arrest of a registered sexual predator.

In the early morning hours of Thurs., Sept. 1, gunshots rang out in several Crestview neighborhoods. The shots were reportedly fired between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.

“There was numerous scenes, nobody was injured, but there was property damage,” Crestview Police Department Major Raymond Harp said. “We have an idea of what was going on, but nothing on paper yet. Its still an active investigation.”

There were three scenes in which the incidents took place. Gunshots were investigated at W North Ave. and Lindberg St., E Redstone Ave. near the Crooked Pines townhomes neighborhood, and School Ave. and McClelland St.

Beginning in 2018, the DEA and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office partnered in an investigation into a Drug Trafficking Organization responsible for distributing kilogram amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl within Okaloosa County.

Named Operation Songbird, the years long investigation utilized numerous investigative techniques to identify members of the Drug Trafficking Organization and locations utilized by the Drug Trafficking Organization.