A wanted parolee crashed his car into a condominium building and dove from a second floor window during a standoff with Sumter County sheriff’s deputies.
Corey Michael Payton, 44, who has an extensive criminal history in Lake County, at about 4 a.m. Sunday crashed into a building at the Sandalwood Condominiums in Wildwood, across from the Village of Chitty Chatty. Multiple 911 calls poured into the sheriff’s dispatch center, reporting that Payton was attempting to break into several of the condos.
He barricaded himself in a second-story apartment and began threatening to shoot at law enforcement. Deputies began evacuating numerous apartments considered to be in danger. The sheriff’s SWAT team responded to the scene.
Members of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Negotiations Team established verbal contact with Payton through a second floor window that he had broken out. After several hours of negotiating with Payton to surrender peacefully, he dove out of the window to the ground. The Villages Public Safety Department was staged at the scene and EMS personnel were able to quickly initiate life-saving measures which ultimately resulted in Payton being flown to a regional trauma center by helicopter.
Inside of one of the burglarized apartments, deputies found the ankle monitor assigned to Payton as he is on parole for burglary and on supervised release. The monitor had been cut off and left inside. A check of Payton’s parole status revealed that he had previously violated his parole and was wanted pursuant to an arrest warrant issued Friday. Payton’s criminal history is extensive with a total of 139 prior felony charges with 30 total felony convictions. His current charges are still under investigation but will include burglary to an occupied dwelling, burglary to a dwelling and multiple counts of criminal mischief. Once released from the hospital, he will be booked into the Sumter County Detention Center.
If you have any information about this investigation, contact the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at 352-793-2621. To remain anonymous, you can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).