Pro Wakeboarder Identified After Robbing 7-Eleven in Shirt With Sponsor’s Logo

As our Delray Beach and Deerfield Beach criminal defense lawyers know, one professional wakeboarder learned in Orlando this past week that wearing a shirt with your known sponsor’s logo on it while robbing a store probably isn’t a good idea if your goal is to get away with the crime.

Law enforcement agencies use all sorts of tools in hunting down individuals who break the law; some of the most useful resources at their disposal are tips they receive from the general public.

Because Michael Kyle Evans is somewhat well-known (at least among pro wakeboarding enthusiasts), tipsters were able to identify him by his sponsor-branded wakeboarding shirt.

The pro wakeboarder, known in the wakeboarding circuit as Kyle Evans, was arrested by deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department this past week, accused of robbing a 7-Eleven in the Orlando area. Apparently, after deputies released images taken from the store’s security camera, members of the general public recognized Evans because of his wakeboarding profession. The accused robber, who was (at least up until reports of his arrest) sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink, appears to have been wearing a shirt with a Rockstar logo on it while he was robbing the store. Thus, when individuals saw the images from the security camera, they saw Evans in a Rockstar shirt, making his identification much easier.

If you’re not a professional wakeboarding fan, as our Delray Beach and Deerfield Beach criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert know, it might be hard for you to understand why the Rockstar logo on Evans’ shirt would have made a big difference. But consider this; for golf fans, for instance, Rory McIlroy is one of the biggest names in golf, and his roughly $25 million per year sponsorship with Nike is one of the biggest sponsorship deals around. If for some reason McIlroy was suspiciously but inconspicuously photographed in security camera images, and police needed the public to assist them in identifying the man in the images, it would be far easier for members of the public to identify McIlroy if he was seen in his typical Nike hat and Nike shirt, as he is seen on the golf course.

In this age of constant surveillance and social media, as our Delray Beach and Deerfield Beach criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert know, it is very easy for police to widely circulate images of individuals suspected of committing crimes. The fact that many people spend hours each day poring over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds means that they are constantly being shown images; police departments know this and have thus moved into the social media sphere, where they frequently publish images of individuals they need help identifying. This is one of the reasons why getting away with crimes is so difficult nowadays and it’s also why securing strong legal representation to fight the charges you face is imperative.

If you have any questions about this criminal defense story, or if you have been arrested for or charged with a crime in Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade County, please contact our Delray Beach and Deerfield Beach criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert by calling 1-888-5-DEFEND (1-888-533-3363) to schedule a free consultation. We look forward to assisting you.