WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The CEO of a Florida-based construction company has bonded out of jail after being arrested for allegedly stealing a compressor worth $80,000 in Miami Beach.
Peter Scott Parker tried to cover his face and avoid 7News cameras as he walked out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday night.
“Mr. Parker, anything to say?” asked a 7News photographer.
According to Miami Beach Police, the 65-year-old from Vero Beach turned himself in to authorities on Wednesday after being accused of a bizarre boosting of a compressor.
As he walked out of jail, a man walking behind him kept insisting to the cameras that 7News was recording the wrong guy.
“That’s not him. Hey! That’s not him. Relax. Relax. No, that’s not him,” said an inmate.
But it is Parker, the CEO of the American Building Group, who made his first court appearance on Thursday morning to face his charges of grand theft and criminal mischief.
“He stole an air compressor worth $80,000,” said Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
Miami Beach Police officials said they identified the suspect’s truck as the one seen pulling away on Dec. 5 with a compressor used for concrete restoration at a condo he owns at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 16th Street.
Anthony Son is the owner of Ti Con Building System. His company had been in charge of the concrete restoration of the condo building when his construction crews left the compressor behind a locked gate on the property.
The compressor was reported stolen early Friday and recovered in the afternoon. Police found it at a home in Virginia Gardens.
“They dragged it out, connected it to a truck, and then drove away with it,” said Son in an interview with 7News after he reported the compressor stolen.
A witness who was nearby snapped a couple of photos before handing them over to the police, which helped them in their investigation and led them to Parker.
When police finally spoke to Parker, prosecutors told the judge in bond court that he had a story to tell.
“It’s kind of a weird set of facts. His statement was that it was in his parking spot and he’s upset, and he moved it,” she said.
Parker’s attorney, Arthur Jones, meanwhile, said the dispute stemmed from a dispute over his client’s parking space.
“He has a home in Vero Beach, but he also has the local address here at that condo there,” said Jones. “This is an ongoing civil dispute with the association who keeps telling the construction company to park the equipment and trailers in his parking spot. And it goes back for several years, so it’s really a civil matter.”
The prosecutor quickly pushed back on it.
“So it’s not civil because he didn’t have permission to take the victim’s property,” she said.
Ultimately, Jones was successful in getting his client released without needing to pay a bond.
Parker is due back in court on Feb. 9.
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