Staff Report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a recent incident at a Dollar General, 37-year-old Darius Julius Stacy was apprehended on allegations of breaking a car window and stealing $15 in cash.

The incident unfolded on December 21 at approximately 1:20 p.m. when a Gainesville Police Department officer was dispatched to the Dollar General located at 2400 SE Hawthorne Road. The victim reported that while shopping inside the store, an unknown individual shattered her car window. Upon returning to her vehicle, she discovered three $5 bills missing from her cup holder and found a large metal pipe on the floorboard.

Eyewitness accounts provided further details to the responding officer. One witness described seeing a man in jogger pants breaking the car window and rummaging through the vehicle. The witness noted that the man’s pants appeared oversized, causing him to frequently pull them up.

A second witness identified the suspect by the last name Nobles, recalling his previous arrest for a local store break-in. This led authorities to identify Stacy as the individual responsible for a break-in earlier in 2023 at the Eastside Food Store, located at 3423 SE Hawthorne Road.

Reviewing surveillance footage from the Dollar General, the officer observed a man sitting outside the store around 1:18 p.m. The footage showed the man peering into the victim’s car window at approximately 1:20 p.m., then walking to a nearby construction site. He returned with a pipe, which he used to smash the vehicle’s window. The man briefly leaned into the car, took something, and left. Although the video captured his actions, the man’s face was indistinct due to the footage’s quality. Notably, his oversized pants required constant adjustment as he moved.

At about 5:29 p.m., the officer was driving westbound on NE 8th Avenue when he saw a man matching the description of the suspect; the officer noted that the man, later identified as Darius Stacy, was wearing jogger pants and was constantly pulling up his pants.

The officer pulled over and asked Stacy if he would speak with him; Stacy agreed and walked over to the officer, and the officer noted that he was holding a $5 bill in his hand. The officer said the name Stacy gave him “did not make sense,” so he asked if his last name was Nobles; Stacy reportedly said his mother’s last name was Nobles and then provided his correct name.

One of the witnesses positively identified him as the man she had seen breaking into the car.

Post Miranda, Stacy denied ever being near Dollar General.

Stacy has been charged with burglary of an unoccupied vehicle. He has seven felony convictions (two violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (one violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2009. In 2024, Stacy was convicted of burglarizing a business and sentenced to probation, but he eventually served 364 days in jail after violating probation. A sworn complaint was filed in 2024, alleging that he stole three vehicles, claimed ownership of them, and sold them to metal recycling companies without the permission of their owners, but the charges were later dropped. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $25,000 on the new charge.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.