NEWS RELEASE
Weekend Roundup: August 1-2
Date:Tuesday, August 4, 2026
BUNNELL, Fla. — Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies made 13 arrests this past weekend between 6 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2026, and 6 a.m. on Monday, August 3, 2026. Deputies handled 759 calls for service and made 88 traffic stops.
Fugitive Mom Uses Nine-Year-Old Daughter to Steal from Target
Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Palm Coast woman on Saturday after she used her 9-year-old daughter to help steal merchandise from a Palm Coast Target.
On Saturday evening, deputies responded to the Target on State Road 100 in Palm Coast after store asset protection reported that a woman and her young daughter had concealed merchandise and walked out without paying. The woman was later identified as Lisa Debenedictis, 48, of Palm Coast.
Lisa Debenedictis (Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility Mugshot)
Deputies reviewed surveillance footage with asset protection. The video showed Debenedictis leave her 9-year-old daughter alone in a cosmetics aisle, where the child took items and hid them in a pink backpack. When she returned, Debenedictis placed another item into the same backpack.
The two continued through the store selecting items before stopping at a self-checkout, where Debenedictis deliberately skipped scanning numerous items and bagged them, while leaving more unscanned in the cart. Both then walked past all points of sale without paying.
Asset protection stopped the two as they exited the store. All the merchandise was recovered and returned to the store.
“This mom will never be mother of the year,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “A parent is supposed to teach her kids right from wrong and not how to be a thief. Instead of raising her daughter, she recruited her to steal from retailers. This child did learn a valuable lesson on what happens when you steal. You get arrested and go to jail!”
Deputies arrested Debenedictis for petit theft, contributing to the delinquency of a child, and failure to appear on a traffic violation. She was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where she is being held on a $6,500 bond.
Debenedictis has two prior theft convictions in Volusia County, including grand theft.
Sheriff Staly Stops and Arrests Super Speeder Wannabe Pilot Flying Down I-95 at 125 MPH
A Sheriff is never off duty. On Friday evening, Sheriff Rick Staly was with his wife on his way to a dinner meeting when a super speeder flew by his unmarked patrol car on I-95. Sheriff Staly conducted a traffic stop and arrested a Palm Coast man after his reckless driving reached speeds up to 125 mph on Interstate 95.
Shortly before 5 p.m., Sheriff Staly was traveling south on I-95 in his agency vehicle just south of the State Road 100 exit when a white 2016 Dodge Challenger with black racing stripes blew past him at a high rate of speed. Using his vehicle’s certified speedometer, the Sheriff paced the Challenger between 115 and 125 mph for almost six miles while trying to stop the driver who was constantly weaving across all three lanes of traffic and passing within three to four feet of the rear bumpers of slower cars.
The Sheriff activated his lights and siren, and the driver eventually pulled over on I-95 just south of Old Dixie Highway, in Volusia County. The driver, Arul Nayak, 22, of Palm Coast, turned off the car, placed the keys on the roof, and was taken into custody by the Sheriff without incident. As the traffic stop played out, passing drivers, who had been previously passed by this reckless driver, honked their horns, appreciating this driver had been stopped and arrested before he could injure or kill other drivers or his passengers.
Nayak, who has no prior criminal history, told Sheriff Staly he had a final pilot’s exam on Saturday and that he hoped he would be out of jail in time.
“Driving 125 miles per hour and weaving through three lanes of traffic isn’t a mistake, it’s a decision to gamble with everyone else’s life, including the three passengers sitting in his own car,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “This wannabe pilot was flying fast and low, but he wasn’t in an airplane, and this wasn’t his final exam.”
Arul Nayak (Volusia County Jail Mugshot)
Sheriff Staly arrested Nayak for willful and wanton reckless driving and violation of Florida’s super speeder law. Because the stop ended just inside Volusia County, he was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where he was later released on bond.
See video of Nayak’s arrest: https://bit.ly/3TyXxkE.
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