News and Investigations

News & Investigations

News Releases and Public Information

Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.

PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Meghan Petty. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.

The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.

Oct 27, 2022

Tenoroc High School student arrested for bringing a gun to school

Media Contact: Carrie Horstman, Administrator

On Wednesday morning, October 26, 2022, just after 8:00 a.m. the school resource deputy at Tenoroc High School, 4905 Saddle Creek Road in Lakeland, received an anonymous tip that a student allegedly brought a gun to school.

The SRD identified and located the suspect, Santiago Soto-Garcia of Lakeland, and found a pistol in his jacket pocket, and a magazine with twelve 9mm rounds in it in his pants pocket. The black and tan semi-automatic pistol chamber was empty and it was marked with insignia for Patmos P80. It did not have any serial number on it.

During the investigation, the deputy learned he also threatened a student with the firearm. The deputy located the victim and interviewed him, who told the deputy that he went into the bathroom and saw the suspect in a stall with other students. When the suspect saw the victim, he called the victim a derogatory phrase, and the victim walked away. Soto-Garcia then followed the victim and told him that he would shoot him. The victim said Soto-Garcia then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a handgun.

Soto-Garcia was arrested and charged with:

Possession of a firearm on school campus (F3)
Carrying a concealed firearm (F3)
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (F3)
Disruption of a school function (M2)
Possession of a firearm by someone under 18 years old (M1)
Possession of a firearm with an altered serial number (M1)

"The student who sent in the anonymous tip about this boy bringing a gun onto the school campus is a hero. This is a perfect example of someone seeing something, and saying something. The safety of our children is the most important thing in the world, but we can't keep people safe without you - you are our eyes and ears." - Grady Judd, Sheriff