BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE—Jamalcom Earl Isler, 28, of Starke was sentenced to 364 days in jail for squatting in a vacant Lincoln City home.
The defendant pleaded to burglary of an unoccupied structure and resisting an officer while the state dropped a grand theft charge.
Isler and Lakwanzaa Shanice Griffin, 25, of Lake Butler, were arrested on Oct. 1.
According to an arrest report, deputies were first called to a Southeast 143rd Terrace residence on Sept. 30.
The owner told deputies she noticed someone had been staying in the vacant home, which was being remodeled.
The victim added that a smart TV with an estimated value of $800 was missing from the building.
Deputies returned to the home on Oct. 1 after a second call from the victim. This time Deputy Joseph Shiller saw a woman inside the house.
Shiller reported that the woman fled out a back door when he approached the structure.
Later Shiller and two deputies saw the woman and a man hiding in a nearby shed. As the officers approached the structure, the pair ran. One, Griffin, was immediately caught. The second, Isler was found after a search.
According to Shiller, Griffin told him she had been staying in the house for a week but didn’t know anything about a missing television.
Isler admitted to living in the house for several days and denied any knowledge of a television in the home. He added that he sought shelter in the residence because of approaching Hurricane Ian.
Griffin pleaded to burglary in January and was sentenced to one year and one week in prison.
