Deltona Couple Arrested In Home Burglary Ruse Designed To Cover Up Hit-And-Run Crash

Date Added: June 13, 2017 4:15 pm

Andrew Gant
Public Information Office

DELTONA COUPLE ARRESTED IN HOME BURGLARY RUSE DESIGNED TO COVER UP HIT-AND-RUN CRASH

A Deltona couple thought staging a break-in at their house might convince authorities that their vehicle was stolen – and that it must have been a burglar who used their truck in a hit-and-run crash.

But on Tuesday, Garrick and Adria Gunn’s plan to fake out Volusia County sheriff’s detectives failed, landing the husband and wife in jail on charges of falsely reporting a crime.

The hit-and-run crash occurred last Tuesday, June 6, at the intersection of East Beresford Avenue and South Amelia Avenue, DeLand, and was investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol. The crash sent one person to the hospital and damaged a traffic signal.

An eyewitness to the crash later told a sheriff’s deputy that a woman matching Adria Gunn’s description approached him asking for a ride away from the scene. He refused, and he said he overheard her talking on the phone, saying: “Man, hurry up and come get me, ‘cause I don’t have no license.”

The next day, the Gunns reported a burglary at their home on Kimberly Drive. Garrick Gunn reported his insurance company called him that morning to tell him his truck was involved in a crash while he and Adria were in Bunnell visiting a family member. He said he rushed home and discovered his truck was stolen. He even showed the deputy part of his doorframe was damaged. But the deputy noticed there was no damage to the lock itself, or the door itself, as there should have been if someone forced their way inside.

In addition to the witness description of the woman asking for a ride, an FHP trooper investigating the crash found a broken, fake, grey-blue-purple-ish painted fingernail inside the suspect vehicle. The eyewitness told the trooper that the woman who approached him had the same type of fingernails.

Deputies arrested the Gunns on Tuesday on charges of destroying, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, making a false report of a crime and providing false information to law enforcement. They were being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail on Tuesday afternoon on $7,000 bail each.