A Century man who ran from authorities trying to serve a warrant for battery Dec. 26 faces felony vehicular grand theft charges after authorities discovered a trailer reported stolen Nov. 5 was located in a barn belonging to his grandfather.
William Johnathan Hamilton, 28, 90 Hilltop Road, was arrested Jan. 10 and charged with felony grand theft when deputies discovered a 12-foot Bear Track heavy-duty aluminum trailer parked in a barn on property which belonged to Hamilton's grandfather, where Hamilton resided, according to an Escambia County Sheriff's Office report.
The trailer had been reported stolen from William Peterson's property at 9630 Wawbeek Road in Century around Nov. 4 or 5. The report said the trailer, which belonged to Stephen Gruenwald, had been parked behind a pile of brush, covered with a white tarp and with 40 bales of hay, which Gruenwald had delivered to Peterson.
According to the report, when deputies went to serve a warrant to Hamilton on other charges, he ran from the deputies into the woods by a barn. Deputies established the perimeter of the area where Hamilton ran and called out Century Corrections K-9s to search. The report said that's when deputies found the trailer inside the barn, and one of them remembered a BOLO (Be On the LookOut) for an aluminum trailer reported stolen.
After some research matching the VIN number with dispatch, it was determined the trailer was the one reported stolen and the officer noticed the trailer still had a receiver hitch on the tongue of the trailer with a master padlock on it and the receiver pin not on the hitch, but in Hamilton's truck bed nearby, the report stated. The same officer noticed the tire treads that dropped the trailer inside the barn matched the treads on Hamilton's black GMC truck.
The deputy asked Hamilton's grandfather about the trailer and he stated it did not belong to him and should not be in his property, according to the report.
Hamilton was arrested Jan. 10 and transported to the Escambia County Jail and given a bond of $2,000.
