- December 16, 2025
Dot dot dot. Dash dash dash. Dot dot dot.
That’s Morse code for S-O-S, and that’s what a crime ring led by Grant V. Morse is now likely tapping from the jail cell, thanks to a joint effort of law enforcement agencies, including the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Morse, along with Patrick M. Giovine, Ryan T. Giovine, Dave R. Downs, Ethan D. Gaboury and James M. O’Brien have been arrested from 2008 to as recently as the morning of Wednesday, July 6.
That afternoon, Flagler County Sheriff Donald Fleming, State Attorney R.J. Larizza and Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Special Agent in Charge Dominick Pape declared that what has become known as Operation Morse Code has been solved.
According to a press release, Morse was the ringleader and is being held in federal prison on other charges. With the help of the others involved, however, Morse committed burglaries, narcotics sales, ATM thefts, vehicle and motorcycle thefts and more in Palm Coast and other locations around the state.
The ring stole 48,000 dosages of prescription medications and stole or destroyed $365,000 worth of private property from more than 100 victims.
According to Special Agent Jason Jolicoeur, the suspects cut phone lines outside their target areas to see whether there would be any reaction. They yanked ATMs out of the ground with chains and transported them to another location where they broke into them and stole the cash.
Investigators said Morse assigned the other suspects with certain tasks and coordinated the use of tools to accomplish the tasks, including breaking into a buiding through the ceiling.
Pape praised the cooperative effort of the agencies, saying, “They could have handled it as a simple theft”; instead, thanks to Flagler County’s Crime Suppression Team, a wider net was cast, and enough evidence was gathered to make Larizza confident that his office will be able to convict the suspects of racketeering, which bears a maximum penalty of 30 years per case.
Larizza added: “This group was escalating … They were looking at going into more violent crimes, like robbery.”
Officials said no one was injured in the crimes committed.
The following is a list of targets from which Morse and/or others are suspected of stealing:
2007, 36 Paul Lane, Palm Coast
2008, 706 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell
2009, 4075 Highway A1A, St. Augustine
2009, 25 Marina Point Place, Palm Coast
2009, 1200 Palm Harbor Parkway, Palm Coast
2009, 45 Old Kings Road N., Palm Coast
2010, 9 Pine Cone Drive, Palm Coast
2010, 19501 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura
2010, 1298 John Anderson, Ormond Beach
2010, 35 Princess Rose Drive, Palm Coast
2010, 968 Orange Ave., Daytona Beach
2010, 215 St. Joe Plaza Drive, Palm Coast
