Gainesville man charged with two counts of auto theft; more charges added after he allegedly admitted destroying evidence during a phone call from jail

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Marcus Dameon Johnson, 51, was arrested on May 31 and charged with two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle; more charges were added the next day after he allegedly admitted on a jail phone call that he had asked his wife to destroy video evidence and lie to deputies.

At about 6:45 p.m. on May 31, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a house in the 1700 block of SW Williston Road, where a maroon Hyundai Palisade that had been reported stolen out of Sumter County on May 14 was reportedly found in the driveway, along with another stolen vehicle. There was reportedly no tag on the Hyundai.

The second stolen vehicle was a white Toyota Highlander that was reported stolen out of Lake County on November 18. The tag on that vehicle was not assigned to that vehicle, but the decal (which was assigned to a different tag) was reportedly registered to Marcus Johnson, who lives at the home where the vehicles were located.

Deputies made contact with Johnson, who reportedly had keys to both vehicles, and he was arrested on two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Post Miranda, Johnson reportedly said that neither vehicle belonged to him, but he was detailing the vehicles for someone else.

A second arrest report filed on June 1 reports that while a deputy was on scene during the initial investigation, Johnson called his wife and asked her to pull up the video footage to prove he was “not in possession of the stolen vehicles.” The deputy reported that Johnson went in and out of his house several times and was given several minutes to find the video, but he was unable to do so.

After Johnson was detained, he reportedly said someone named “Daquan” had broken down in front of his house, and Johnson had helped him push the Hyundai into his yard so he could detail it. Johnson reportedly said he didn’t know anything about the Toyota and didn’t know how his decal had gotten onto the tag. The deputy reported that he called Johnson’s wife from the scene, and she said Johnson drives the Toyota to and from daycare with their children.

After Johnson was booked into the jail on May 31, a deputy monitored his calls. That evening, he reportedly called a woman and told her he had instructed his wife to tell deputies that he was not associated with any of the vehicles on his property and that he had also told his wife she needed to delete the video footage from their outside cameras. The deputy reported that the video had already been deleted before Johnson was arrested.

Johnson reportedly called his wife on the morning of June 1 and said, “We got surveillance, they can’t see **** without us, you hear me” and “They can’t see nothing, we can delete everything out of our camera.” He reportedly told his wife what she should say if she was asked about the Toyota and added, “You know what’s up with the car.” He reportedly referred to the car as “hot,” meaning it was stolen.

Johnson has been charged with one count of tampering with evidence and one count of misdemeanor conspiracy, along with the two previous counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Johnson has been released on bail; the amount is not currently available because court records are not updated on weekends.

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.