Posted on 12/15/2007 10:03:42 AM PST by DocRock
Suspect already jailed in lake wales burnings
LAKE ALFRED | Leon Davis Jr. – already in jail on charges related to the burning of two women in Lake Wales -- has been charged in the double homicide at a BP station along Interstate 4.
The Polk County Sheriff Office’s said this morning that Davis, 30, of Winter Haven, has been charged in the shooting deaths of Pravinkumar Chimanbha Patel, 33, and Dashrath Patel, 52, Dec. 7 while they were changing the gas station's outdoor sign after the store closed about 9 p.m.
He already is in jail on charges related to Thursday’s robbery at a Lake Wales insurance office that left two women badly burned and a man who came to help them in the hospital after being shot in the nose.
Juanita "Jane" Luciano, 23, and her sister-in-law, Yvonne Bustamante, 26, were set on fire during the robbery at Headley Nationwide Insurance Office in downtown Lake Wales.
The two women are reported to be in critical but were stable condition Friday at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Luciano, who was 51/2 months pregnant, under went a Caesarean section Thursday night. Her son, Mike Bustamante Jr., is 20 inches long and weighed 1 pound, 2 ounces at birth.
Brandon Greisman, 34, was shot in the nose when he ran from his nearby home in response to the commotion caused by the robbery. He is in good condition and was transferred from Lake Wales Medical Center to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for plastic surgery.
Until Davis was linked to the convenience store attack, Sheriff’s Office investigators had been having trouble making progress in finding the killer.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd had appealed to Polk County Jail inmates for tips, saying he could not let them out of jail but he could give them the $12,000 reward being offered for information.
That reward was later raised to $20,000.
In the convenience store attack, a gunman dressed in dark, baggy clothing approached the station's convenience store from the direction of Interstate 4 and tried to open the locked front door.
From inside the building, store owner Prakashkumar Patel, 34, of Lakeland, told the gunman several times that the store was closed. Then the gunman pulled a handgun from the waistband of his pants and fired through one of the store's windows.
A security camera captured the gunman's next move. He ran to the men at the sign and shot both of them dead without any attempt at robbery.
An autopsy revealed the gun was held directly against each of the victim's heads.
Then the suspect tried opening the store's door once more before retreating back in the direction he had come, an indication, Judd has said, that the suspect had used a vehicle to get away.
The Sheriff's Office said the gunman was black with a medium build, between 6 feet and 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and wore pants with zippers running up the inside seam from the cuffs to the knees in an athletic fashion.
Davis is 6-foot-4 and weighs 225 pound.
He appeared in Circuit Court Friday afternoon on charges from the Lake Wales attack on Thursday afternoon. He is being held without bail on charges of three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of arson, one count of armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 240 years in state prison, according to the State Attorney's Office. During the hearing, County Judge Robert Griffin declared Davis indigent and said he will receive a public defender.
Davis had been a customer of the Nationwide Insurance office until last week when he cancelled his policy.
Lake Wales police reported that shortly after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Davis is accused of entering the insurance office at 124 W. Central Ave. in Lake Wales with a hand gun and some type of fire accellerant.
Once inside the office, Davis demanded money from the Bustamante and Luciano at gun point and then doused them with an accelerant and ignited it, police said..
Police charge that Davis started a fire to the interior of the building, burning it as well.
The two women tried to run out of the building to escape but Davis followed them pouring more fuel on them as they fled.
Outside, Greisman, came to the aid of the women at which time Davis shot him in the face, police said.
Davis then fled the scene on foot Northbound on Phillips Street, police said.
He later turned himself into the Sheriff’s Office after his name and description was widely circulated by newspaper Web sites and television reports.
Davis had worked for the city of Eagle Lake since Oct. 16 where he was a maintenance worked making $9 an hour. He was liked and respected by his co-workers and others there. .
Davis had been with the city since Oct. 16, when he was hired as a maintenance worker making $9 an hour. He'd left a job at Florida's Natural in Lake Wales on Sept. 7, where he was being paid $13.06 an hour. In that job, he loaded trucks, worked in the shipping office, drove a forklift and pulled orders.
But he had been suspended without pay Dec. 3 after surrendering to police on allegations of grand theft involving his previous employer.
Those allegations involved the Sept. 4 theft of about $11,000 worth of juice from the Florida's Natural citrus processing plant in Lake Wales, where Davis was working at the time. He was being paid $13.06 an hour loading trucks, working in the shipping office, driving a forklift and pulling orders.
Authorities said Davis took 11 pallets of juice and delivered them to his cousin's restaurant in Lake Wales.
He had surrendered to police Nov. 30, was booked into the Polk County Jail and released Dec. 3 on a $5,000 bond.
That bond was revoked Friday during a first appearance hearing on charges related to the Nationwide Insurance office robbery.
Davis had pleaded to the two earlier grand theft charges in July and was sentenced to three years' probation, 50 hours of community service in each case and 50 hours of work release, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Chip Thullbery. Those charges stemmed from a theft at Sam's Club in Lakeland.
Davis grew up in Lake Wales, and his height made him a natural for the Lake Wales High School basketball team. After graduating in the mid-1990s, he served briefly in the U.S. Marine Corps before returning home to southeastern Polk County.
His wife collapsed Thursday night upon learning about the allegations against her husband, and she was hospitalized overnight. Dawn Henry said Friday that she has been released and is staying with family.
Ledger reporters Bair, Suzie Schottelkotte, Shoshana Water and Dana Willhoit contributed to this report.
Last modified: December 15. 2007 12:46PM
Saw it off and kick it away.
He turned himself in for burning the women.
saw it off and kick it way.
What a vicious animal. They should put him down like Michael Vick puts down his dogs.
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