Video: Suspect In Fleeing Stolen Vehicle Caught After Hiding In Deltona Home; Ski Mask, Gloves Recovered

Date Added: October 20, 2020 4:25 pm

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

SUSPECT IN FLEEING STOLEN VEHICLE CAUGHT AFTER HIDING IN DELTONA HOME; SKI MASK, GLOVES RECOVERED

A suspect speeding through Volusia County in a stolen vehicle was arrested Tuesday morning in Deltona, where he pulled into a woman’s garage and hid in her house before surrendering to deputies.

Just before 9 a.m., the stolen Mercedes Benz was picked up by a License Plate Reader in northwest Volusia County. Minutes later, the driver fled from a DeLand police officer who attempted a traffic stop. Air One started following overhead and watched the vehicle travel at high speeds to a house on Arrendonda Drive in Deltona, where it pulled into the garage, the door closing behind it.

Deputies established a perimeter, made closed surrounding streets and made announcements over a PA system. A few minutes and several phone calls later, two occupants exited the house and were secured without incident.

The resident of the home told deputies she was about to leave her house when the Mercedes pulled up and the driver demanded she open the garage for him to hide.

The Mercedes was reported stolen to the Orlando Police Department after it was purchased by someone using a fake identity earlier this week.

The driver, whose identity was not confirmed at the time of this writing, is charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary and fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement.

Deputies recovered a ski mask and a pair of gloves from the stolen vehicle.

*Update: 10/25/20* 

A Deltona resident who told deputies last week that a fleeing stranger showed up at her home and asked to hide inside has been arrested on charges of aiding an escape and giving false information to law enforcement.

Delfy Ogando Gonzalez, 44 (DOB 3/1/1976), was arrested this morning after an investigation following last Tuesday’s incident at her home.

Gonzalez initially told deputies that the fleeing suspect, later identified as Raffey Francisco Rodriguez, showed up at her house unexpectedly as she was leaving, and asked for help because he was being followed by the police. Ogando Gonzalez said she didn’t know the defendant.

The Air One video footage suggested otherwise, indicating Rodriguez pulled up to Ogando Gonzalez’s driveway and idled for only a few seconds, windows up, before a car in the driveway moved out of the way to allow Rodriguez to pull his stolen car into the garage.

A witness told deputies Ogando Gonzalez had been sitting in her vehicle in her driveway for an extended time before Rodriguez arrived. A DeLand PD officer had attempted a traffic stop on Rodriguez about 40 minutes before he made it to the house.

Today, Ogando Gonzalez was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where she was in custody on $3,000 bond at the time of this writing.