ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The 19-year-old son of a St. Augustine city commissioner has been arrested in connection with a home invasion robbery in St. Johns County, deputies said.
Jacob Kline turned himself in late Monday afternoon on a charge of being a principal to armed home invasion robbery, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Kline is the son of St. Augustine Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline.
Deputies said Kline was the mastermind of a robbery six weeks ago in which he wanted to take back something that was his.
“The individual that was arrested today, Mr. Kline, he indicated that he had been ripped off by the other individuals who were later the victims of the home invasion,” SJCSO spokesman Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. “The home invasion was conducted to recover those items.”
Last Monday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Kline's parents' home, where he still lives. The firebomb hit the bedroom of Sikes-Kline’s 14-year-old son, who was in the room with three teenage friends at the time, according to a police report.
The report said the commissioner's husband was able to put out the fire before anyone was seriously hurt.
Mulligan said the sheriff's office isn't sure if the incidents are connected.
“We don't have any information that leads us to believe that that's the case,” Mulligan said. “Although, I think it would be conjecture to say that it is, but certainly, there's nothing taken off the table.”
The other men accused in the armed robbery were Sean Edmund Riggs, 18, Larry Thomas Travis Jr., 21, Ronald Tyrone Burch, 20, and Marcus Theodore Lewis, 19, deputies said.
Riggs, Travis and Burch are charged with home invasion robbery. Lewis is charged with principal to home invasion robbery.
Deputies said Kline is the fifth and final arrest they were hoping to make in the case.
DOCUMENT: Joshua Kline arrest warrant
According to deputies, at least three armed men entered a home on West Jayce Way on Jan. 25 and demanded valuables. The victims, two men and a woman in their early 20s, told detectives that two of the men wore masks, but the third did not. That third man was later identified as Travis.
The men fled with a cellphone, car keys and $200 in cash belonging to the victims.
Deputies said detectives quickly identified Travis as a possible suspect, and he was then positively identified by the victims and arrested.
The other three men were identified and arrested within a week, deputies said.