Polk County shooting leads to the arrest of 2, including state corrections officer
Derick Wilkerson and Stacy Newton mugshots courtesy of the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - A state corrections officer found herself on the other side of the law Tuesday morning after she was arrested in Polk County.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 31-year-old Derick Wilkerson of Orlando and his friend, 38-year-old Stacy Newton of Winter Haven, a corrections officer at the Polk Correctional Institution in Polk City, were arrested following a shooting on Monday.
It happened around 2:25 pm, on State Road 540 West, near Bradbury Road in Winter Haven.
According to PCSO, the victim told detectives that as he was returning to his Winter Haven home, he saw Wilkerson leaving his neighborhood, so he pulled up to Wilkerson’s vehicle to talk with him.
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As the victim got out of his vehicle, he said Wilkerson got out of his vehicle, held up a firearm, pointed it at him and threatened to kill him. The victim said he turned to go back to his vehicle, but Wilkerson followed him.
Detectives say the victim asked Wilkerson if he was going to shoot him, and Wilkerson raised the gun slightly over the victim’s head and fired one shot in the air before turning around and walking back to his vehicle.
That is when, according to detectives, Newton arrived and told Wilkerson to leave. She then picked up the spent bullet casing, put it in her pocket, and left the area, according to investigators.
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Detectives say a witness who was at a nearby home corroborated the victim’s story, and security video from a residence also showed the crime as the victim described.
PCSO says Wilkerson and Newton confessed during an interview with a detective.
"We are always going to hold public servants to a higher standard, and accountable if they should break any laws," stated Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. "A corrections officer should know better than to associate with someone with such a violent history; it will eventually get you into trouble, and in this case it did."
Wilkerson was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, driving while license suspended/revoked-habitual offender, improper exhibit of a firearm, discharging a firearm in public, and culpable negligence.
Wilkerson’s prior criminal history includes arrests for battery by strangulation, battery, dating violence, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and habitual offender status for driving with a suspended or revoked license, according to PCSO.
Newton was charged with tampering with evidence.