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Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the early hours today, law enforcement apprehended 43-year-old Kenneth Gavin Webb from Fruitland Park on charges of burglary and drug possession. This arrest followed a report from an Airbnb host who spotted him unlawfully entering the property.
Around 1:04 a.m. on February 15, a Gainesville Police Department officer was dispatched to an apartment at The Laurels, located at 4411 SW 34th Street. The Airbnb owner had alerted authorities after surveillance footage captured an unknown individual repeatedly accessing the apartment.
When the officer approached Webb at the Airbnb’s entrance, he claimed without prompting that a friend had given him permission to stay there.
After receiving his Miranda rights, Webb allegedly explained that his friend, who had rented the Airbnb, allowed him to remain there. He mentioned a prior stay on February 6 and presented text messages from another individual, which included a screenshot of the Airbnb listing from that date. Contrarily, the Airbnb owner confirmed that the rental agreement had concluded on February 13.
The officer noted that the most recent text messages between Webb and the other person did not support Webb’s claim that he had been invited to the Airbnb that evening. The officer said the messages showed Webb repeatedly asking the other person for a place to stay and the other person refusing. In the messages, the other person said they no longer had the door code and had never invited Webb to the Airbnb or anywhere else.
Webb reportedly told the officer that the door was unlocked when he arrived, and the officer noted that there were no signs of forced entry.
Webb reportedly gave consent for a search of his person, and the search reportedly produced a glass pipe, typically used for consuming narcotics. The officer also reported that there were several items belonging to Webb on a table in the living room, including a razor blade containing about 0.1 grams of a white substance that tested positive for fentanyl.
Post Miranda, Webb reportedly denied that the fentanyl was his, but he admitted that the other items on the table were his, including his cell phone, vape, and take-out food. He reportedly said he had been eating the take-out food when the officer knocked on the door.
Webb, whose address is listed as Fruitland Park, has been charged with burglary of an unoccupied structure, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He has no local criminal history, and Judge Tatum Davis set bail at $202,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.