Brevard Sheriff’s Office K-9 Uses His Snout To Ferret Fugitive Out of Kitchen Cabinet

By  //  January 1, 2016

sniffed out by sheriff's K-9 'Vader'

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On December 30, members of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Fugitive Unit were able to determine that former "Turn Em In Tuesday" Fugitive, Andrew Thomas was hiding at his Grandfather's residence on Camp Road in Sharpes. (BCSO images)
On December 30, members of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit were able to determine that former “Turn Em In Tuesday” Fugitive Andrew Thomas was hiding at his grandfather’s residence on Camp Road in Sharpes. (BCSO images)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – On December 30, members of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit were able to determine that former “Turn Em In Tuesday” Fugitive Andrew Thomas was hiding at his grandfather’s residence on Camp Road in Sharpes.

Thomas was wanted for Violation of Probation for Manslaughter with a Weapon and Failure To Appear for Grand Theft of a victim 65 or older. (Someday, someone will hopefully explain to me how someone with that level of violent crime and criminal history gets put on probation in the first place, but perhaps that is a story for another time.)

Once determining the location where Thomas was hiding, Agents surrounded the residence and gave Thomas verbal commands to exit the house.

After approximately 45 minutes with Thomas refusing to exit and surrender, members of our Fugitive Unit completed a search warrant while S.W.A.T, K-9 Handler Bowes and his partner “Vader” were summoned to the scene.

Once S.W.A.T arrived on scene, the search warrant was executed on the home and K-9 Handler Bowes deployed his K-9 inside. K-9 “Vader” immediately alerted on the kitchen cabinets inside the residence and actually used his snout to open the cabinet where Thomas was attempting to hide inside.

BCSO FUGITIVE OF THE WEEK: Andrew Thomas Wanted By Brevard County SheriffRelated Story:
BCSO FUGITIVE OF THE WEEK: Andrew Thomas Wanted By Brevard County Sheriff

Thomas was taken then into custody and was subsequently transported to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Jail on a No Bond status after being medically cleared for tasting injuries sustained during his brief interaction with K-9 Vader.

This is another great example of various units within our agency working together to keep our community safe.

Please join me in congratulating our Fugitive Unit, S.W.A.T. Team, K-9 Handler Bowes and Vader for getting another violent criminal off our streets and behind bars.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey has been a law enforcement officer for over three decades. Sheriff Ivey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Daytona State College in Management and Supervision. Sheriff Ivey’s background in law enforcement is inclusive of Management, Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, Patrol Services, Public Integrity Investigations, and Corrections.

Sheriff Wayne Ivey

Prior to being elected in 2012, Sheriff Ivey served the citizens of the State of Florida as a Resident Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As a member of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sheriff Ivey developed and created the country’s first ever statewide Task Force on Identity Theft.

That same year the Task Force was named one of the top five most innovative programs in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and investigated approximately 44 million dollars in fraud cases. Additionally, as a member of FDLE, Sheriff Ivey created the Child Abduction Response Team (C.A.R.T) that re-defined the way Child Abduction cases are conducted throughout the country today.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey has been a law enforcement officer for over three decades. Sheriff Ivey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Daytona State College in Management and Supervision. Sheriff Ivey’s background in law enforcement is inclusive of Management, Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, Patrol Services, Public Integrity Investigations, and Corrections.

The program was later selected as the most innovative program in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and is now used as a nationwide model in the response and investigation of child abductions.

Sheriff Ivey has testified before the United States Congress on law enforcement related matters and has extensive experience in the area of Public Integrity Investigations. Sheriff Ivey was honored as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Special Agent of the Year (1996) and was also recognized by the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for his Outstanding Contributions to Criminal Justice. In August of 2011 Sheriff Ivey was honored by the National Organization of Victims Advocacy for his work at the national level as an advocate of victim’s rights and protection.

Sheriff Ivey speaks regularly on topics such as Identity Theft, Crime in America, Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Self Defense through Mental Preparedness. Sheriff Ivey firmly believes that Crime Prevention and Education are vital to reduce our crime rate and protect our community.