{"id":62199,"date":"2026-02-04T23:01:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=62199"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:01:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:01:33","slug":"suspect-hiding-in-motel-wall-arrested-after-fleeing-polk-deputy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/02\/04\/suspect-hiding-in-motel-wall-arrested-after-fleeing-polk-deputy\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect hiding in motel wall arrested after fleeing Polk deputy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A suspect wanted for removal from the U.S. was found hiding inside a motel wall after fleeing from a Polk County deputy.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) say 33-year-old Ege Bilgin was driving a white Corvette erratically without a valid license on I-4 when a sheriff\u2019s deputy attempted a traffic stop. Bilgin briefly pulled over but sped away as the deputy approached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witnesses reported seeing the Corvette leave the interstate and head toward a motel in Davenport. Deputies confirmed the car and saw Bilgin, who ran on foot after noticing law enforcement. Construction workers then alerted deputies that Bilgin had entered a room at the Stayable Suites and barricaded himself in the bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the bathroom, deputies discovered Bilgin, who was concealed deep within the drywall behind insulation, PCSO says. After repeated commands were ignored, a chemical agent was deployed, prompting him to surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He faces felony charges, including resisting arrest, burglary of an occupied dwelling, and fleeing to elude a law enforcement officer, along with misdemeanor and false identity charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A suspect wanted for removal from the U.S. was found hiding inside a motel wall after fleeing from a Polk County deputy. Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO)… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDJcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTEtMy53ZWJwP2ZpdD01NDElMkM3MjEmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJTdXNwZWN0IGhpZGluZyBpbiBtb3RlbCB3YWxsIGFycmVzdGVkIGFmdGVyIGZsZWVpbmcgUG9sayBkZXB1dHkiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.KJ02ac3o6YRIX0fqg1xYB70Gma32MkmQD-sr5LPBW9oMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":62201,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/download-1-3.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13526],"class_list":["post-62199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-suspect-hiding-in-motel-wall-arrested-after-fleeing-polk-deputy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62202,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62199\/revisions\/62202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}