{"id":63516,"date":"2026-03-08T20:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63516"},"modified":"2026-03-08T20:12:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:12:36","slug":"polk-county-sheriffs-office-pcso-arrested-marcelino-hernandez-a-26-year-old-mexican-national-in-the-u-s-illegally-following-a-series-of-arson-and-vandalism-incidents-in-the-wahneta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/08\/polk-county-sheriffs-office-pcso-arrested-marcelino-hernandez-a-26-year-old-mexican-national-in-the-u-s-illegally-following-a-series-of-arson-and-vandalism-incidents-in-the-wahneta\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) arrested Marcelino Hernandez, a 26-year-old Mexican national in the U.S. illegally, following a series of arson and vandalism incidents in the Wahneta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In February 2026, the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) arrested Marcelino Hernandez<\/strong>, a 26-year-old Mexican national in the U.S. illegally, following a series of arson and vandalism incidents in the Wahneta<\/strong> area of Winter Haven.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The investigation began on January 31, 2026, after a homeowner on 11th Street West reported two separate arson attempts at her property.<\/sup> According to the PCSO, Hernandez:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Attempted Arson:<\/strong> Placed a wooden pallet with tree branches under the victim’s mobile home and set it on fire. The homeowner was able to extinguish the flames with a garden hose.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Used Accelerant:<\/strong> Deputies found a bottle of citronella torch fuel in the basket of Hernandez’s bicycle, which he admitted to using to start the fires.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Vandalism at Placita Mexico<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Following his arrest, Hernandez confessed to targeting a local business, Placita Mexico<\/strong> (located at 3390 Rifle Range Road), on three separate occasions in late January.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Damage:<\/strong> He used rocks and a hammer to smash windows and doors after being unable to enter due to security bars.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Motive:<\/strong> Hernandez stated he was “frustrated and irritated” with the store owner and issues in the neighborhood.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Charges and Legal Status<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Hernandez faces multiple felony charges, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Arson<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Unoccupied Burglary<\/strong> (3 counts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Felony Criminal Mischief<\/strong> (Property damage of $1,000 or more)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Criminal Mischief<\/strong> (Property damage less than $1,000)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        The Polk County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that an ICE hold<\/strong> has been placed on Hernandez at the Polk County Jail.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        In February 2026, the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office (PCSO) arrested Marcelino Hernandez, a 26-year-old Mexican national in the U.S. illegally, following a series of arson and vandalism incidents in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63517,"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":"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.KrM1koEUcVBlYdCgqBW1LFjNx9bFOZ8PM75Tii5ofUYMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13989,13990],"class_list":["post-63516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-pcso-arrested-marcelino-hernandez","tag-a-26-year-old-mexican-national-in-the-u-s-illegally"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63516","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=63516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63518,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63516\/revisions\/63518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}