Homeless man arrested for burglary after allegedly refusing to identify himself during fire investigation
Staff report
ARCHER, Fla. – Christopher Wesley Studemire, 39, was arrested yesterday after deputies investigating a smoke-filled house determined that he had forced entrance into the house.
At about 4:24 p.m. yesterday, Alachua County Fire Rescue and Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call about a possible fire at a home in the 16600 block of SW 134th Avenue in Archer. Deputies and firefighters determined that there was smoke coming from inside the home and that there was a man inside the house.
The man reportedly refused to identify himself despite multiple requests and said multiple times that he owned the home and had purchased it from the bank. Deputies were unable to contact the owners listed in the property records or identify the man in the house, and both agencies left the scene after it was deemed safe.
After leaving the property, a deputy remembered that he had the property owner’s contact information from a previous call for service, and he called the property owner, who said he still owned the house and that nobody was supposed to be inside. The owner said he wanted to pursue criminal charges against anyone in the house.
Two deputies returned to the property and made contact with the man inside the home, who reportedly continued to refuse to give his name or leave the house. The man was placed under arrest for burglary.
At the jail, the suspect was identified as Studemire.
Studemire, who is described as homeless on the arrest report, has been charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He has eight felony convictions (one violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (none violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2018. Charges in five cases have been dropped since 2021, including aggravated assault, stalking, aggravated battery, and sending a written threat to kill. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $50,000.
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.
By my understanding, the homeowner, the real one, didn’t have a vacancy sign on at the house. Unfortunately, Alachua County and the City of Gainesville do.
If you listen to some, they’ll say it’s not the homeless’ fault they’re committing crimes. They’ll also say it’s guns riding around shooting people in the streets and homes.
Don’t listen to them, they’re idiots.
On a side note, it’s an election year; if you’re not happy with the crime and taxes, you may want to rethink your voting habits.
He should not have been out then. The scummy judge gave him $50,000 bail knowing he’d get warm jail shelter during cold months. Because they’re all on the take in a judicial circle jerk.
I’ll be glad when Florida wises up and eliminates cash bail so you can stop crying on here everyday about judges being corrupt and giving low bail. If you feel so strongly then why not go get a law degree and do the job yourself?
Maybe you should take a look at your own name “stop whining”. If Florida goes the other way with bail then Florida would be no better off then New York or California with murderers, rapist, etc being released by liberal judges to continue their crime sprees. That sets a precedent that Florida doesnt need. In this case this Jag Off still owes court fees from previous cases. He has no intention on paying it back. Maybe a better option would be to hold them in jail until all past courts are paid and then he can get bail. This guy is the type that will hopefully walk in on the wrong homeowner.
He is a homeless man squatting in a gutted old house. Yes having a fire inside was idiotic but 50,000 dollar bond for him may as well be a million. In the state of FL the state cannot hold u in jail without a bond or a chance to get out for that crime. Yes he is off the streets for a few months but even though it’s cold the summer months are unbearable. So yeah u just whining he has a bond and then whining cause he won’t freeze makes absolutely zero sense. Just also shows that some people have to have an issue with this type of situation no matter how it pans out. Live to bitch and complain.
Squatting in someone else’s old house. It’s against the law and violated another’s property rights.
You’ve got a bleeding heart, offer him a room in your house when he makes bail or gets out.
Well since you know about the house and it being old and gutted maybe it’s to bad it didnt caught on fire and burn. Eyesore gone, criminal gone, owner collects insurance. Then bail would not be a issue. I’m al about saving tax dollars and keeping people out of jail. Repeat offenders upon conviction should be taken to the oak tree. That would be a great deterrent to crime.
“Charges in five cases have been dropped since 2021, including aggravated assault, stalking, aggravated battery, and sending a written threat to kill.” Has the prosecutor’s office gone “Soros”?
Probably a little of what you stated above and perhaps the victim(s) of these crimes not wanting to participate further in the legal process to get a conviction.
I do question a lot of the decisions makes when making deals with these criminals. But Yours Truly is right. There is also a high percentage of victim and witness refusal.
I wonder how many of the refusals are due to prisoners at the jail working the free phones to convince witnesses and victims to drop the cases.
You’d think that the judges could refrain from setting such unrealistic, punitive, and illegal bail amounts for cases where it’s obvious that the petty criminal just wanted some (taxpayer funded) shelter for the coldest months of the year.
🤦🏾♀️ I know him!!!
You know, if every day there were multiple articles about rabid dogs attacking innocent people, destroying property, etc. then any reasonable person would say that those wild dogs were a menace to our community and something must be done to remove them.
If anyone tried to say the solution was to build more doghouses and pile food everywhere in order to attract even more rabid dogs, they would be ridiculed for their imbecilic ideas.
Instead, we have daily articles about transient homeless people doing the same thing, and the inept leadership of this city think the solution is to make this community as attractive as possible to violent, drug-addicted homeless people.
Chris has always had some issues since he was a child. I used to work in Archer and tried to provide some kind of stability after school to him and his younger siblings. Seeing him grown up and continuing the cycle is terribly sad.