Last month the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office received a report of grand theft involving an Altec backyard bucket lift, and 20’ utility trailer from Buford’s Tree Service. Buford’s is a tree service contracted by Gulf Power to conduct tree trimming and foliage clearing services near power lines and utility poles. The stolen equipment, valued at nearly $75,000, was removed from the parking area of a Gulf Power substation. Bulletins and advertisements were immediately circulated by Buford’s, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, and Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers in hopes of generating additional information regarding the theft from the public.
During March and April, OCSO investigators began to receive tips and develop information regarding the theft and Aaron “Blake” SANDERS, of Sanford, Alabama, became a person of interest. Through several weeks of surveillance and with the assistance of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Covington County Sheriff’s Office, and numerous civilian entities, investigators were able to establish probable cause to obtain a search warrant of SANDERS’s rural property outside of Andalusia, Alabama.
On May 4th, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office investigators accompanied deputies of the Covington County, Alabama, Sheriff’s Office during the execution of a search warrant at 20433 Old Salt Road, Sanford, Alabama. During the search of the four acre property, the Altec backyard bucket lift was located hidden in trees and foliage. SANDERS provided a complete confession to investigators on scene and provided information which led Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies to also recover the 20’ utility trailer on Griffith Cemetery Road in Baker.
SANDERS was taken into custody by Covington County deputies for bringing stolen property into the state, and is currently being held in the Covington County Jail awaiting extradition to Okaloosa County on a charge of grand theft. Also taken into custody at the time of SANDERS’s arrest was his girlfriend, Jennifer Dawn Nolin. Nolin has been wanted and at large since September of 2016 for a felony Violation of Probation on original charges of Possession of Controlled Substances.
Navarre newspaper reminds our readers that Aaron “Blake” Sanders and Jennifer Dawn Nolin are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
