A debt owed to a Walnut Hill, Fla. drug dealer may have been the cause of a home burglary dating back to this year’s Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to officials with the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Department.

Haden Brock Howard, 19, of 5041 Highway 164 in McDavid, Fla. was taken into custody Wednesday by sheriff’s deputies and charged with felony burglary of an unoccupied dwelling unarmed; felony grand theft of less than $5,000; and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, in connection with the theft of items from a shed behind a home on Sandy Hollow Road in Walnut Hill.

According to the arrest report, Howard was a known friend of the burglarized family’s 14-year-old son and in a dating relationship with the family’s 15-year-old daughter and had knowledge they would be out of town over the holiday weekend.

Howard is accused of stealing eight items totaling $1,719. When questioned by authorities, the son said he was friends with Howard and that the suspect robbed the shed in order to pay a debt the two owed to a drug dealer that goes by the name of “Cap” and who lives at 60 N. Cypress St. in Walnut Hill.
The alleged dealer, identified by authorities as Kevin Foster-Bey, 50, stated that he had received property from Howard matching the description of the missing items. Those items were seized and returned to the victim.

Foster-Bey was arrested in late July on drug charges stemming from a separate incident.

Howard also faces contributing to the delinquency of a minor charges for allegedly providing the two minors, as well as a third child, with the means to purchase illegal narcotics, including crack cocaine, marijuana and spice (synthetic marijuana) and allowing them to use the drug in his presence.
Howard was booked into the Pensacola Jail and later released on $14,000 bond.