Sarasota Senior Citizen's iPhone Outsmarts Legacy Trail Robber

A Nokomis man found out this week that you should not underestimate a senior citizen's grasp of technology—especially iPhones.

A 70-year-old Sarasota man bicylcing on the Legacy Trail north of Laurel Road noticed on Nov. 2 a man illegally riding a motorized scooter on the trail several times during his ride. Motorized vehicles aren't allowed on the trail.

The victim attempted to get the attention of the scooter driver, Daniel Joseph Kelly, 27, by raising his hand in anger to show his frustration of Joseph's speed down the path, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office's probable cause affidavit. 

The victim later caught up with Kelly at the Dona Bay footbridge where Kelly was resting on his scooter. The victim took out his iPhone, snapped a photo of Kelly and told him he was going to report Kelly to authorities for riding his scooter on the trail, accoridng to the affidavit.

The situation turned scary for the victim when Kelly approached the man, shoved his chest knocking him to the ground of his bike and continued to stand over the senior citizen, who told a deputy he feared for his life, according to the affadavit.

Kelly ripped the iPhone from the victim's hand and threw it into Dona Bay, then sped away on a Daelim Motor scooter.

During the argument and struggle between Kelly and the victim, the photo was automatically uploaded to the victim's iCloud server for safe storing so he could remotely access it, and that help lead to Kelly's arrest, according to the affidavit.

Investigators were able to identify the scooter and distribute the photo to patrol deputies who could find the scooter.

The scooter belonged to another man, Stephen Hutton, who told deputies that Kelly was borrowing the scooter, told him that some guy took a picture of him on the trail and would be back before dark, according to the affidavit.

Deputies arrived at Kelly's last known address, 201 S. Ravenna St., in Nokomis with a search warrant ready to take Kelly into custody, but his mother attempted to stall Kelly's trip to jail, according to the affidavit.

When Barbara Ann Fouraker, 47, answered the door Thursday morning telling deputies that her son doesn't live there and wanted to know why authorities were looking for Kelly, according to the affidavit.

Fouraker first told deputies that Kelly was out of state on a hunting trip.

Later that day, deputies received information that Kelly was at another address, 204 Shadylawn Ave., and when the deputy arrived they saw Fouraker walk out of that house, according to the affidavit.

Fouraker told deputies that she wasn't sure if her son was in the house she just walked out of, according to the affidavit.

Deputies received permission from the homeowner to search the house where they found Kelly hiding behind a bedroom door, according to the affidavit.

Kelly is charged with a felony count of robbery without a firearm or weapon and one misdeamenor count of resisting arrest without violence according to the affidavit, while Fouraker is charged with one count of obstructing law enforcement without violence, according to the affidavit.