A 62-year-old Key Largo man was booked into jail Wednesday after deputies say he threatened to shoot a delivery driver trying to drop off a package at a senior RV park, then followed the worker's vehicle out onto U.S. 1. Richard Alan Fogel faces a charge of assault stemming from the confrontation, which happened Sunday night at a mobile home and RV community along the 96000 block of Overseas Highway.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the delivery driver was attempting to drop off a package at approximately 9:25 p.m. Sunday when Fogel confronted him, telling him he was on the wrong lot and to leave before Fogel shot him. As reported by Tampa Free Press, the driver never actually saw a firearm, but he told deputies he believed the threat was real. Fogel then got into his own vehicle, attempted to block the driver from exiting the property, and continued trailing him onto U.S. 1, deputies said.
The address places the confrontation at Keys Ventures @ 96, a 25-site, 55-and-over RV community located at 96401 Overseas Highway at Mile Marker 96. No injuries were reported, and the victim later identified Fogel as the suspect, leading to his arrest. Fogel reportedly gave conflicting statements to deputies about how the confrontation unfolded, though the specifics of those inconsistencies have not been detailed publicly.
Charge Reflects a Threat, Not a Weapon
Fogel was booked into jail Wednesday facing a single charge of assault. Under Florida Statute § 784.011, simple assault is defined as an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to commit violence, paired with an apparent ability to follow through and a resulting reasonable fear of imminent harm — a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, according to the Brancato Law Firm.
Had Fogel displayed or brandished an actual firearm, the case likely would have escalated to aggravated assault under Florida Statute § 784.021, which covers an assault committed with a deadly weapon or with intent to commit a felony and carries up to five years in prison as a third-degree felony, per Russo Law & Advocacy. Because the driver never saw a weapon, the misdemeanor charge applied instead.
A Highway With Nowhere Else to Go
The layout of the Upper Keys made the pursuit especially unnerving for the driver. U.S. 1, known through the island chain as the Overseas Highway, stretches 113 miles as the single primary road connecting the Florida Keys, meaning a dispute at a residential driveway can spill directly onto the region's only major thoroughfare, as noted by the Overseas Highway's entry on Wikipedia. There was effectively no alternate route for the driver to take to get away from the property.
Following his arrest, Fogel was processed through the Monroe County Sheriff's Office detention system, which operates three facilities across the Keys — the 46-bed Plantation Key Detention Facility in Tavernier, the 57-bed Marathon Detention Center, and the 597-bed Stock Island Detention Center in Key West, according to the sheriff's office.
Part of a Broader Pattern for Delivery Workers
The confrontation adds to a growing list of reported clashes between residents and delivery drivers nationwide. Bureau of Labor Statistics data ranks delivery driving among the more hazardous U.S. occupations, and a 2021 Pew Research Center study found that 35% of gig economy workers said they have felt unsafe on the job, according to CBS News. In a similar case Hoodline reported last year, a Tennessee resident was charged with aggravated assault after firing a gun during a dispute with an Amazon delivery driver.
Monroe County has generally seen violent crime trending downward. Florida Department of Law Enforcement statistics released in February 2025 showed overall crime in the county dropped 13% from 2023 to 2024, with aggravated assault incidents falling from 134 to 93 and simple battery cases declining from 389 to 323, per the Keys Weekly. It remains unclear whether Fogel has posted bail, which delivery company the driver worked for, or what specific inconsistencies investigators found in his statements.
