GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A 23-year-old Gainesville man, Jonathan Alexander Quino, was arrested Thursday after deputies say he took a friend’s car without permission, crashed it into a pond near Celebration Pointe, and removed the vehicle’s license plate before fleeing.
According to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy was called to the area on September 1 for a hit-and-run crash and discovered a Toyota abandoned in a pond near Celebration Pointe. Witnesses reportedly told deputies the driver ran north through the parking lot while carrying the tag. The deputy said he spotted a tall, slim Hispanic man leaving the crash scene and ordered him to stop, but the man continued running. Investigators later found the Toyota’s license plate in a wooded area near the path where the suspect had fled, the report states.
The following day, the Toyota’s owner contacted authorities and said she had been spending time with Quino at her apartment the night before the crash. Before she went to sleep, she said, Quino told her he was waiting for someone to pick him up and take him home. She later woke up to several calls informing her that her Toyota had been located in a pond near Celebration Pointe.
The victim told deputies that Quino was the only person who had access to her keys, but she had not given him permission to use or drive the car. She described him as a tall Hispanic male with curly black hair and said he had written her an apology note afterward, though she had thrown it away.
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Quino was taken into custody on September 5 at his residence in Hidden Oak Mobile Home Park. After being read his Miranda rights, he allegedly admitted that he took the woman’s vehicle from her apartment without consent, crashed it, removed the tag, and ran from the scene. He reportedly told deputies he fled because he was scared.
Quino has been charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, petit theft of the tag, tampering with evidence for removing the tag, and resisting an officer without violence.
The report notes that Florida Highway Patrol worked the hit-and-run portion of the investigation, so additional charges may be pending.
Quino has no local criminal history, and Judge Sheree Lancaster ordered him released on his own recognizance.