Homeless man charged with breaking into house, demanding car keys, and stealing car

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Corey Lemar Howell, 44, was arrested early this morning and charged with breaking into a house on March 27, demanding car keys from a resident of the house, and stealing a car.

At about 5:50 a.m. on March 27, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a home in the Kirkwood neighborhood off SW 13th Street, where the victim said she was in the bathroom when she heard a loud bang, then the bathroom door opened and a man told her not to scream. She said the man had a hand in the back of his shirt as if he had a weapon and forced her to give him her car keys; she said the man said he was in trouble with the law and needed a car.

The victim said she was in fear for her life and walked the man to the kitchen, where she saw that the door was broken. The man grabbed a set of keys from the counter and left the house; security cameras reportedly showed him entering a vehicle and driving away.

The officer reported that the man left his wallet, which contained Howell’s identification card, and the victim positively identified Howell from his Florida identification card. Howell’s driver’s license was revoked in 2009.

The occupants of the house told the officer that they do not know Howell and did not give him permission to enter the house; they said they only let him leave with the car because they feared for their safety.

Howell is also facing a sworn complaint from an incident that happened a few minutes before the home invasion. At about 5:25 a.m., a man entered the lobby of Hotel Eleo (1514 SW 13th Street), went behind the desk, and grabbed an iPad belonging to the hotel. Two employees reportedly fought with him and took him to the ground, but the man pulled out what they believed was a knife. One employee yelled, “Knife, knife!” and both employees ran away from the desk and out of the hotel. The man fled the area with the iPad.

The stolen iPad was reportedly recovered with Howell’s wallet at the house he allegedly broke into. Howell has not yet been booked on the charges in the Hotel Eleo case, which include burglary of an occupied structure, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, and petit theft.

Howell, who is described as homeless in a court document, has been charged with home invasion, grand theft of a vehicle, and driving without a valid license as a habitual offender. He has nine felony convictions (two violent) and seven misdemeanor convictions (none violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in December 2024. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail on the home invasion charge, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; she set bail at $75,000 on the other charges.

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.