Martin

It’s not every day that an armored vehicle drives down a street inside a gated New Tampa community, especially in Cory Lake Isles. But, June 26 was a not a normal afternoon.

According to the Tampa Police Department (TPD), extreme caution was taken while serving a search warrant for identity theft at 18041 Java Isles Dr. in the Cory Lake Isles community on Cross Creek Blvd. The two suspects, Elvis Martin, 28, and Rosa Moultry, 24, were not home during the search.

While TPD’s Tactical Response Team (TRT) scoured the residence, the suspects pulled up in their gold 2006 Infiniti sedan to find their home being searched. However, they did not stop.

The report says that Martin drove the vehicle another four blocks before finally stopping for police. Once stopped, TPD found a 6-year-old child in the vehicle’s backseat, as well as marijuana in the back passenger door compartment, the odor of which, TPD officials say, was quite strong inside the vehicle. The child is now in the custody of one of the suspect’s cousins. Martin was taken into custody and charged with fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, but was later released on a $2,000 bond, despite the fact this was his 24th arrest in Hillsborough County.

Moultry was taken into custody and charged with child neglect, contributing to the delinquency of a child and possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis; her 16th arrest in the county. Another published report says that TPD discovered 50 Turbo Tax cards in the home during the search, but confirmation was not available as of our press time, as this bust was part of an ongoing investigation. A spokesperson for TPD says that the TRT is used on all high-risk search warrants along with the V-150 Armored Personnel Carrier.