Polk County investigators have arrested five people in connection to a murder that took place in mid-January in Lakeland.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a news conference Wednesday, along with Lakeland Police Capt. Rick Taylor and the sheriff of Sumter County, to provide details of the case.
Judd said the case began when a woman told some men she knew that she had been sexually assaulted by the victim, Robert Banks. Judd said the men invited Banks to their home on Vousden Lane under the pretext of buying drugs from him. But when Banks got to the home, Judd said the men attacked him.
“They strangled him with an electrical cord. They beat him with a pipe," Judd said. "They beat him with their fists. They beat him with sticks." Judd said one of the suspects sodomized Banks with a flashlight.
Judd identified the murder suspects as Brian Johnson Jr., Anthony Johnson, Michael Gunn and a juvenile. We are not naming the juvenile due to our crime guidelines.
Judd said the suspects called Brian Johnson Sr. He allegedly came to the home and helped the suspects dispose of the body. Judd said they took the body to a wildlife management area in Sumter County and set it on fire. It was later discovered by a couple traveling in the area.
Detectives said the suspects took pictures of Banks' dead body with their cell phones.
“They were telling people, which we always like,” Judd said. “That helps a lot when you go around showing pictures and saying, 'Don’t worry about Robert anymore. We’ve taken care of him. He’s dead.' ”
Judd said the suspects have been cooperating and may be providing investigators with the codes to get to the pictures on the phones. But if that doesn't happen, Judd threatened to take Apple to court to get codes to access the images on the phones if Apple didn't cooperate.
“But I can tell you the first time we have trouble getting into a cell phone, we are going to seek a court order from Apple. When they deny us, I’m going to go lock the CEO of Apple up," Judd said.
Most devices have some sort of password to unlock it. The key is that it’s the individual’s password that unlocks it, not anyone else.
Defense attorney Kevin Hayslett said law enforcement will have a hard time convincing a judge to force Apple or any phone company to force open a cell phone.
“The business model is not to create a phone that only they have the key for,” Hayslett said. “The business model is to create a phone to protect your banking account, my personal information, documents that I don’t want anybody to see, including the government, and whether or not the government has the right to invade our privacy.”
“You can’t have a business plan that violates the law," Judd said. "And when a court orders you in the state of Florida to provide information and you don’t, we're going to see how good their lawyers are."
Apple has been in the news for not helping investigators open a locked cell phone owned by a suspect in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Hayslett said comparing that federal terrorist case to this one is like comparing apples to kumquats. He said it will take years for a case like this to see any results.
Judd says he doesn’t anticipate he’ll have to go to higher courts in this case, but if it comes to that, he has a plan and that includes locking up Apple's CEO.
“Believe you me, if I get a toehold in this county and I can get the state Attorney’s Office to agree to prosecute and a judge to back us up, I’ll lock the rascal up. That’s a guarantee,” Judd said.
We tried reaching out to Apple but haven’t heard back.