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A Florida man, who has been described by local authorities as a “well-known felon,” has been charged in the murder of three fishing buddies.
Tony “TJ” Wiggins has been registered in the court system since he was 12 years old, and according to local authorities, he has a criminal history of 230 felony charges.
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“I didn’t stutter.” Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County said at a press conference, “He has 230 charges in his arrest history. Fifteen convictions and two times to state prison at only 26.”
Judd continued to call him a “thug,” a “criminal” and said that Wiggins was “pure evil in the flesh.”
Wiggins, his 21-year-old brother, Robert Wiggins, and his girlfriend, Mary Whittemore, have all been identified as suspects in the murders.
According to Fox13 News, Damion Tillman, 23, Keven Springfield, 30, and Brandon Rollins, 27, were all shot and killed last Friday, July 17.
It is alleged that TJ and Keven knew each other.
Reports indicate that the elder Wiggins believed that Springfield stole his truck and sold its engine for a profit.
As a result, TJ punched his associate in front of the others. Investigators cannot confirm the veracity of the theft, an issue that seems to be the root of the violent altercation, not do they have all of the details showing how the initial blow advance to gunplay.
Detectives said Robert confirmed that TJ shot all three victims and later asked him to help place Damion into the back of one of the two trucks.
Investigators say that moments before the shootings, Tillman was seen at a nearby Dollar General store. Detectives noted that the man told the clerk that he was meeting friends to go fishing.
The report says that surveillance video from the store shows Tillman talking to the suspects.
The sheriff noted that Tillman was still alive after being shot and that he called his father for help. His father found him at Lake Streety barely alive and he later died.
Sheriff Judd said that following the triple homicide, the three suspects went to McDonald’s where they ordered over a dozen sandwiches.
He further noted that the suspects were inconsistent in their statements. The one female, Whittemore, was even unwilling to provide them with the correct spelling of her name.
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He also said that all three suspects lived together in a travel trailer with no running water or electricity.
“Our goal, and we pray… our state attorney can seek the death penalty,” the sheriff expressed. “He (TJ Wiggins) needs to seek a fair trial…and then be executed. Legally, we can’t execute him the way he did those three guys trying to fish on a Friday night.”
TJ faces three first-degree murder charges. Robert Wiggins and Whittemore each face three counts of accessory to murder and one count of tampering with evidence.
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