A Lakeland man wanted on a warrant listing false imprisonment, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, witness tampering and battery was taken into custody after deputies say he was lured to a convenience store by a fake air conditioning service call. The man, identified only as Nick in the Sheriff's Office account, believed he was heading out to meet a paying customer. Instead, he drove straight into a group of waiting Polk County deputies.
According to a post from Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
, Deputy Cavataio spotted the newly issued warrant against Nick and learned that other deputies had already tried to track him down at a residence on Iowa Road in Lakeland. That home appeared to be for sale, according to the sheriff's post, leaving deputies without a clear way to locate him there.
A Phone Call Posing as a Customer
Rather than stake out an empty-looking house, Deputy Cavataio called the number listed for Nick and tried to convince him to turn himself in, per the sheriff's post. When Nick answered, he identified himself using the name of his HVAC business, referred to in the Sheriff's Office account by the substitute name “Swampcake AC Service.” Cavataio didn't press him to surrender over the phone. Instead, he posed as a customer in need of air conditioning work and asked Nick to meet him at a local convenience store.
Nick agreed, telling the deputy he would be right over, the post states. Cavataio then invited other deputies to quietly wait near the store for his arrival. When Nick pulled up in his work truck expecting a service call, deputies took him into custody on the warrant without incident.
What the Warrant Alleges
The warrant against Nick listed several serious charges, though the underlying allegations remain unproven until the case is adjudicated in court. Florida treats firearm possession by a convicted felon as a second-degree felony under state law, carrying up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and actual possession of the weapon triggers a mandatory minimum three-year prison sentence, according to the Petkovich Law Firm.
The false imprisonment charge Nick faced is a third-degree felony under Florida law punishable by up to five years in prison, and it does not require physical restraints or visible injury — only that a person be restrained against their will without lawful authority, per the Sammis Law Firm. Witness tampering tied to felony proceedings is classified as a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison, according to Meltzer & Bell, P.A. Simple battery, meanwhile, is typically a first-degree misdemeanor with up to a year in jail, but Florida law allows it to be elevated to a third-degree felony for a defendant with a prior battery conviction, the Brancato Law Firm notes.
A Familiar Playbook for Polk County Deputies
Posing as a customer rather than confronting Nick at a potentially barricaded residence let Cavataio control the location and timing of the arrest, avoiding the risks of a standoff at the Iowa Road address. The Sheriff's Office regularly relies on undercover decoys, fake personas and phone setups to steer wanted suspects into controlled meeting spots before moving in, according to the Sammis Law Firm.
The tactic echoes other recent Polk County cases. In October 2023, deputies in Lakeland arrested a wanted felony suspect who had hidden inside a chest of drawers and posted a whiteboard sign outside falsely claiming he didn't live there, an incident the Sheriff's Office also framed as a trip to the jail, as reported by WTSP. Sheriff Judd has long used the tongue-in-cheek phrase “Grady Judd's Bed & Breakfast” to refer to the Polk County Jail in his public briefings and social media posts, a branding habit documented by Reveal News.
Nick's arrest adds to a string of recent warrant apprehensions across Lakeland. Last month, Polk County deputies tracked down a 36-year-old wanted suspect who tried to flee across a Home Depot parking lot before being caught, a case Hoodline previously covered. That same month, the Sheriff's Office also began pulling automatic license plate reader cameras from state highway rights-of-way after a Florida Department of Transportation order revoked permits for systems like Flock Safety, a shift Sheriff Judd said had hampered a separate manhunt.
As with any pending case, the specific allegations against Nick remain accusations at this stage, and his full legal name and initial court appearance had not been detailed in the Sheriff's Office account. Booking records for Lakeland-area arrests, including this one, are processed through Polk County's regional law enforcement facilities serving Lakeland, Bartow and Winter Haven under state public records law.
