Instagram Videos, Texts Land More Felony Charges For Prolific, Gun-Toting Young Offenders

Date Added: July 18, 2019 10:55 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS, TEXTS LAND MORE FELONY CHARGES FOR PROLIFIC, GUN-TOTING YOUNG OFFENDERS

An 18-year-old Orange City gang associate who’s been arrested 11 times since he was 11 years old is behind bars again on several new felony charges after a detective reviewing his Instagram posts and text message records found cause to arrest him for his weapons, his stolen vehicle and his plans to commit an armed home invasion robbery.

The latest arrest of Vincent Shalkowitz came after Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jayson Paul reviewed social media posts and recognized one that featured Shalkowitz driving a stolen sport utility vehicle and holding a handgun, with a passenger also armed with a handgun that matched one reported stolen in DeLand in April. The passenger, Shalkowitz’s friend Jeremy Jones, is in jail, too, on a variety of charges.

On May 30, Shalkowitz was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent, and detectives executed a search warrant at his Orange City apartment. Detectives found his cell phone and got an additional warrant to gather data from it, revealing several videos of Shalkowitz and his friend and co-defendant Jones handling guns.

The phone also contained conversations between Shalkowitz and Jones discussing a stolen vehicle, a burglary spree and a detailed plan to commit an armed home invasion robbery of a man and his girlfriend.

That evidence led to the additional charges of conspiracy to commit a home invasion robbery with a firearm and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, as well as another charge of possession of a weapon by an adjudicated delinquent and grand theft firearm. Both Shalkowitz and Jones are facing these charges.

Shalkowitz is also charged with grand theft auto for the theft of the Nissan Xterra shown in his Instagram video.

Jones, who remains held without bond on his charges mentioned above, was also the subject of a previous VCSO news release last month after he was arrested on a long list of charges in connection to a string of car breaks and other crimes in DeLeon Springs: https://www.volusiasheriff.org/news/deleon-springs-man-18-charged-with-stealing-van-multiple-car-breaks.stml

Shalkowitz, whose 11 arrests since the age of 11 comprise 21 felonies, including one robbery charge, was on probation from 2013 to 2019 but has never been sent to a juvenile commitment program. He turned 18 in December. He was booked on his new charges today and is being held on $35,000 bond.