- October 5, 2026
A 70-year-old Palm Coast man was arrested on felony charges after deputies used security footage and automatic license plate reader technology to investigate the theft of a disabled jet ski trailer from Herschel King Park, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
The investigation began Aug. 30 after the trailer’s owner reported it stolen from the park’s boat ramp. The victim told deputies that one of the trailer’s axles had broken about a week earlier and that he had received permission from Flagler County Parks and Recreation to leave it at the park while he obtained parts to repair it. When he returned, the trailer was gone.
According to the FCSO, deputies reviewed park security footage that showed a Jeep pickup truck entering the park on the night of Aug. 26 while pulling an empty trailer. The Sheriff’s Office said the footage showed the driver go to the victim’s trailer, load it onto the empty trailer and drive away.
With assistance from the FCSO Real Time Crime Center, investigators identified the Jeep after it was captured by an automatic license plate reader in the area before the theft. Deputies identified the suspect as 70-year-old Palm Coast resident Jonah Depeters.
Deputies went to Depeters’ home in Palm Coast’s BL Section on Sept. 2. The Sheriff’s Office said investigators determined Depeters was the only person with access to the Jeep seen in the security footage. Deputies also reported finding the stolen trailer in pieces in his backyard, where they said Depeters had begun stripping it for parts.
Depeters told deputies he believed the trailer had been abandoned because its license plate had been removed before it was left at the park, the FCSO reported.
Deputies and General Assignment Unit detectives arrested Depeters on Sept. 3 on charges of grand theft of property valued between $750 and $5,000 and criminal mischief involving damage of more than $1,000. He was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later released on $5,000 bond.
“We solved this case and arrested the thief in less than 72-hours,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. He credited ALPR technology, detectives and analysts in the Real Time Crime Center with helping investigators quickly identify a suspect and recover the stolen property.
