Man on pre-trial release arrested for staring at children outside preschool in Hawthorne

Staff report

HAWTHORNE, Fla. – Adrion Keith Flowers, 26, was arrested yesterday after allegedly running from a deputy responding to a report of a man staring at children on a playground.

At about 10:55 a.m. on March 12, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to Episcopal Children’s Services Head Start preschool (5837 SE U.S. Hwy 301), where a caller had reported that a man was loitering near the school and staring at the children.

The deputy reported seeing Flowers, who matched the description provided by the caller, standing on the Hitchcock’s side of the chain link fence, directly across from the school. As the deputy drove toward Flowers, he allegedly “briskly” walked away and then started running and jumped a fence into a residential yard behind the shopping center.

Hawthorne Middle/High School and Shell Elementary were placed on “secure hold” while deputies searched for the suspect.

A debit card with Flowers’s name was reportedly found along his flight path, along with a shoe that had gotten stuck on the fence.

Deputies later received a report that Flowers lived at the address where he jumped the fence and that he was inside the residence; he was reportedly called out of the house and detained.

Post Miranda, Flowers reportedly said he had seen the emergency lights of the deputies’ patrol cars and had fled while deputies shouted at him to stop. He said he was near the school because he was using the Domino’s WiFi.

Flowers has been charged with loitering/prowling and resisting an officer without violence. He has two felony convictions (none violent) and four misdemeanor convictions (one violent). Flowers was last arrested on January 1, 2025, for shooting a squirrel on residential private property; bail was initially set at $50,000 but was reduced to $9,000 about a month later, and he was released on bail. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $55,000 on the new 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.