Ludlum Turns Himself
In At Jail
By JOE SEELIG

LAKE PLACID — A suspect sought Monday by the Lake Placid Police Department in the theft of an ATM machine from Highlands Independent Bank was actually sitting in the Highlands County Jail on Monday afternoon unbeknownst to police.

Thomas Paul Ludlum, 41, of 25 Washingtonia St., Lake Placid, turned himself in Monday morning at the jail after a warrant for his arrest was issued.

After reading a story in Highlands Today on Tuesday morning that police were looking for Ludlum, an anonymous caller left a voice mail stating that Ludlum had turned himself in at 10 a.m. Monday.

In fact, he was booked into the jail by sheriff’s detention Capt. Bobby J. Green at 12:49 p.m. Monday, according to a sheriff’s central records spokeswoman.

Lake Placid Police Chief Phil Williams said Tuesday that he was not aware of the arrest and said to his knowledge his department had not been notified of the arrest by the sheriff’s office.

He added that he would make his detective in charge of the case, James Fansler, aware. Williams said out of his experience, he asks for notification, but it may not have happened in this instance.

“I must say, every time I have specifically requested that I be notified that someone’s been arrested, they’ve notified me,” Williams said. “I don’t know if (Det. Fansler) asked them to do that.”

The central records spokeswoman said she could not find any note on the warrant that indicated that Lake Placid police had made such a request. The warrant was issued Feb. 22 by the honorable Circuit Judge Peter F. Estrada.

Ludlum is accused along with Jesus Antonio Sanchez, 42, of 1806 Matthew Loop, Clewiston, of participating in the burglary and theft.
Sanchez was arrested Jan. 24 and charged with burglary of a structure, grand theft more than $100,000, grand theft using a vehicle to damage a property and first-degree grand theft.

Sanchez remained in Highlands County Jail in lieu of $46,000 bail Tuesday.

Police say the two men used a track-hoe from the Walgreens construction site in Lake Placid and ripped the ATM from its housing. They reportedly then took the machine and its vault to a construction site on S.R. 70 where they unsuccessfully tried to open it with a bulldozer for the money inside.

The machine and vault were recovered New Year’s Day from a nearby canal, still intact after witnesses reported it to law enforcement.
Ludlum was being held at the jail in lieu of $100,000 bail Tuesday morning, on charges of unarmed burglary of a structure and first-degree grand theft more than $100,000.