Grady Judd: 'Cranker colony’ busted, 11 arrested amid burglary investigation of Air Force member’s home

Name: Polk County ‘cranker colony’ busted
Uploaded: 2025-03-21T12:31:13-04:00
Description: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd gives an update on 11 people who were arrested while deputies investigated a burglary at the home of an active-duty Air Force member.

Polk County ‘cranker colony’ busted

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd gives an update on 11 people who were arrested while deputies investigated a burglary at the home of an active-duty Air Force member.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says 11 ‘ne’er-do-wells and crankers’ have been arrested during an investigation at a vacant active-duty Air Force member’s home.

Burglary investigation

The backstory:

On Sunday, March 16, 2025, a 38-year-old man, who is serving in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in North Dakota, called the Polk County Sheriff’s Office after he noticed an alarming spike in his electricity bill.

He requested a check on his property in south Lakeland and when deputies arrived, they said they found Brindy Matos living in a shed on the property, and a meter box that had been tampered with.

Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office

According to PCSO, Matos had several of the victim's things from his main house inside the shed with her, along with her own drugs and paraphernalia.

Deputies say Matos’ boyfriend, Anthony Maddox, Jr., ran away when they arrived.

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"He ran," Judd said. "He’s run before. He has warrants from another county. His girlfriend couldn’t run so fast. She was seven months pregnant. He ran off and left his girlfriend, who is seven months pregnant with his child."

‘Cranker colony’ busted

Dig deeper:

When deputies searched the property, which was secured with a fence and a locked gate, they said they found that the house and all the other locked buildings on the property had been broken into and the victim's John Deere riding lawn mower and golf cart had been stolen. The victim's mother moved to North Dakota with him so that he could help care for her, and her 2007 black Toyota Cruiser was also missing from the Lakeland home.

Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office

"They didn’t just break into the house, they devastated the house," Judd explained. "They gutted the house. They took everything out of the house. Then, they were stealing electricity while they were living in a shed adjacent to the house."

While investigating, detectives said they also went to a nearby property with numerous environmental and health hazards, such as solid waste and household trash strewn about, scrap metal, leaking oil barrels, and raw sewage leaking from three different motorhomes.

Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office

Deputies detained five people and charged them with environmental crimes. Several suspects, according to PCSO, had various drugs and paraphernalia in their possession. Detectives said they were all living in the motorhomes or sheds on the property. With the help of a K-9 team, deputies said they found Maddox hiding on the property in a garage behind some shelves.

He had an active warrant from Hernando County, and he was also taken into custody.

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According to PCSO, several of the suspects at this location were involved in the theft and subsequent selling of vehicles and household items belonging to the Air Force active duty member, including his mom's car, his lawn mower and golf cart, kids' toys, appliances, dishes, and a wooden bench.

"One piece at a time, they stripped everything out of the house," Judd said. "Oh, in the ‘cranker colony,’ we saw a lot of the different things that were originally in the victim’s house. Some of it, as you can imagine, may have been stolen to raise money to buy more meth."

Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office

The victim returned to Polk County to help detectives identify and reclaim his stolen property. So far, they've recovered more than $50,000 worth of stolen items.

What they're saying:

"The scope and brazenness of this theft and denigration of private property is terrible—these ne’er-do-wells and crankers took advantage of an active-duty Air Force member serving our country 2,000 miles away," Judd shared. "He left his private property in Lakeland locked and secured, and moved his mother to be with him so he could take care of her. Nobody has a right to go onto another’s property to steal electricity and personal property. These people are a bunch of sorry folks—destroying people's property with no care for how their lawlessness affects others."

What's next:

The investigation is ongoing, and detectives are still looking for the Toyota Cruiser, the John Deere, and the golf cart.