Homeless man arrested for stealing, crashing Chestnut Funeral Home hearse

STAFF REPORT

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – William Calvin Stewart, 54, was arrested yesterday and charged with grand theft of a vehicle and criminal mischief after allegedly stealing a hearse from Chestnut Funeral Home, damaging a pillar at the funeral home, and then wrecking the hearse in a seven-vehicle crash on Sunday. He was then hospitalized and was booked into the jail on Monday.

A Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officer responded to the funeral home at about 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, where the caller told her that he had been taking photos of the funeral home’s vehicles for an advertisement. He said that while he was parking one of the vehicles, he heard a loud noise and ran to the front of the property, where he saw Stewart in one of the vehicles, described as a “flower hearse.” He said he banged on the window and told Stewart to get out of the vehicle, but Stewart drove away.

The caller told the officer that the loud noise was caused by Stewart backing the vehicle into a four-foot pillar, causing $8,000 in damages to the pillar and concrete. A GPD officer recognized a bicycle left at the funeral home as belonging to Stewart, and an alert was put out to look for him.

Stewart was located about an hour later at the corner of NW 8th Avenue and NW 34th Street, where he was involved in a seven-vehicle crash; the arrest affidavit reported that nobody was injured in the crash.

The first officer at the scene of the crash saw Stewart standing near the hearse and that he had the keys to the vehicle in his pocket. Stewart reportedly started talking about Chestnut Funeral Home, and when an officer asked him who was driving the vehicle, he reportedly pointed at himself, and he was immediately detained but was transported to a medical facility to be evaluated.

Post Miranda, after Stewart had been cleared by the medical facility, he reportedly said that the person who reported the theft is his father and that his dad allowed him to drive the vehicle; he admitted being involved in the crash.

Stewart, whose listed address is GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with grand theft of a vehicle and criminal mischief over $1,000; he was also cited for careless driving. He has 18 felony convictions (five violent) and 57 misdemeanor convictions (six violent). He has served nine state prison sentences, all for Alachua County offenses. His most recent release was in November 2022 after serving a little over two years on charges of burglary, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest. Judge Walter Green set bail at $15,000.

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.