LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA) — Detectives in Lake Wales believe they have solved the case regarding the vandalism incident at a local insurance business with Molotov cocktails, accompanied by graffiti reading “Civil War Trump.”
On Thursday, Lake Wales police announced that they have identified Jason Roberts as the person responsible for the attack on the UniVista Insurance business that occurred on March 20.
Roberts, they discovered, is the brother of the co-owner of Logical Insurance, a competing insurance company in the same plaza as UniVista.
Authorities were able to pinpoint Roberts as a suspect through surveillance footage. The video captured a light-colored Toyota Prius in the vicinity when the front lobby glass of UniVista was shattered by two bottles of flammable liquid.
The Molotov cocktails scorched the floor and filled the space with smoke.
Police also found the words, “Civil War Trump” spray painted on the business, and a bullet hole in a wall directly opposite the front door. The bullet traveled through two rooms and was found lodged in a wall, according to authorities.
The businessowner, German Portillo, told News Channel 8 he’s owned UniVista Insurance for eight years, but had only been open at the location for three weeks.
“What is the message that you want, that you want to give? Because apparently there was a message sent. You want me out of here? Why? You want me to do business? Why don’t you like me? Why? That’s my question,” Portillo said immediately after the incident.
Detectives later determined that the Toyota Prius seen in the area belonged to Sarasota Pathology, a company in which Roberts was the courier supervisor for their subsidiary, SaraPath Diagnostics.
Officials said Roberts resigned on March 24 after not showing up for work for at least two days in a row. The company’s HR director informed detectives that Roberts had no legitimate work-related business in Lake Wales at the time of the March 20 incident.
Investigators found Roberts on July 17 in Jasper, Georgia. Pickens County deputies assisted in taking Roberts into custody.
According to Lake Wales police, Roberts is being charged with armed burglary, arson, shooting into a dwelling, felony criminal mischief, discharging a firearm in public and two counts of possession of fire bombs.
