Chase ends in swamp with dog bite, burglary charges

RUSKIN — After a police chase that ended in a swamp early Thursday morning, police arrested a 33-year-old Gibsonton man on burglary charges.

At about 3:30 a.m., deputies were patrolling a Ruskin neighborhood after several burglaries were reported in the area when they saw a black Dodge Dakota pickup backing into a driveway at 5462 Sandy Shell Drive.

Deputies watched two people haul a refrigerator and stove out of the vacant home. The pair got into the truck and drove off through the side yard into woods before deputies could stop them.

The driver, later identified as Mark Anthony Lockwood, jumped out of the truck and ran away. His female passenger stayed in the truck.

Deputies released a police dog, which found Lockwood in a retention pond. Lockwood was treated for a dog bite at a district sheriff's office.

His female passenger was taken to a hospital for injuries she received when Lockwood abruptly stopped his truck, deputies said. Deputies said they will not release her name until they can interview her and determine her involvement in the crime.

Lockwood, of 4 Ohio St. in Gibsonton, was charged with burglary, grand theft, criminal mischief, and fleeing to elude arrest.

Deputies said Lockwood is also charged with a March 16 burglary of a model home at 5404 Sandy Shell Drive, where they say he broke in, removed a stove and tried to remove a refrigerator.

When trying to steal the refrigerator, deputies said Lockwood broke a water line, which flooded the home and caused more than $15,000 in damage.

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