TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida woman endured a frightening experience last week when she found an escaped inmate in her vehicle.
Shortly after 4:40 a.m., the Lady Lake Police Department was called over reports of a vehicle burglary in progress.
The woman told dispatchers she heard the passenger alarm go off in her BMW. She went to her car and opened the passenger door, and the inmate—identified as Jesse Hall, 31—grabbed her arm.
She was able to break free and ran back into her home, arming herself before authorities arrived, the arrest affidavit said.
Hall ran away after officers found him near the BMW. He was eventually caught and surrendered while being held at gunpoint.
“While searching [Hall] for weapons, a small key fob-like Taser was located on his person,” the affidavit said. “The victim then exited her residence, hysterically crying.”
Officials said the key fob belonged to the woman.
Body camera footage shows the moment Hall was arrested. He ended up lying down in the middle of a road.
“What’d I get the cops called on me for?” he asked an officer.
The woman told officials it was normal for her neighbor’s cats to set off the car alarm, which is why she went outside to check it.
Police searched the car and found a black Nokia cellphone, which did not belong to the woman. Hall told officials the phone was his. According to the affidavit, it received several calls from someone named “Joe DiBlasi.”
Hall said his friend Joe dropped him off to see a woman who lives in the neighborhood and some “stuff went down.”
“Stuff went down. That’s why I was in the car. Look at the cameras from [redacted]’s house,” the escaped inmate said.
Hall initially told authorities his name was “Jess Hillman,” which produced no records. His fingerprints were scanned, confirming his identity as Jesse James Hall. Police then discovered the 31-year-old was wanted after escaping an Orlando prison on May 22.
According to police, Hall was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 for two counts of grand theft auto and several other drug-related offenses.
Hall was taken to Lake County Jail, where he was being held without bond.
