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Sarasota man on drugs calls 911 to report fake home invasion, sheriff's office says

Further charges against Austin Stuenkel are pending.
Further charges against Austin Stuenkel are pending.

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Sarasota man accused of calling 911 to report a fake home invasion while under influence of drugs.

Austin Stuenkel, 22, is charged with trafficking cocaine, four counts of possession of a prescription with intent to sell, four counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Stuenkel initially called police around 11 p.m. Monday to report people running through his Yorktown Street home and backyard near Nelson Avenue.

"I saw multiple people jumping my back fence in my backyard wearing masks," Stuenkel told dispatchers.

LISTEN: Click or tap here to listen to the phone call between Stuenkel and a 911 dispatcher. Some of the audio is redacted from the phone call.

Stuenkel claimed someone disabled his security system in the 911 call. He also claimed there was "a guy by his back shed" had a "giant weapon of some sort. He's also wearing a giant white mask and a black robe of some sort."

When Stuenkel invited responding deputies into his home, they saw several narcotics and paraphernalia in plain view.

Deputies executed a search warrant Tuesday that found 45 grams of cocaine, more than 3,000 Xanax pills, 3,800 grams of marijuana, synthetic drugs and more prescription pills.

Sheriff’s deputies also sent several substances to the agency’s lab for testing.

Further charges against Stuenkel are pending. He remains in custody without bond, the sheriff’s office said.

The investigation is ongoing.

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