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Naked Florida man arrested after attempted robbery with a machete

There were no reported injuries during the incident.
Credit: Volusia Sheriff's Office

DELAND, Fla. — A naked man who threw a machete at a surveyor and attempted to rob him of his clothes was arrested on Monday, Aug. 8, in DeLand, deputies say.

The Volusia Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that deputies arrived at an area across from the Volusia County Fairgrounds at around 10 a.m. when the surveyor told them the man identified as Brandon Wright, 34, approached him while holding a machete. 

The surveyor also told deputies that Wright was carrying palmetto berries in the woods and then came running out of the trees with the weapon to steal his clothes, phone and wallet, authorities said in a post.

As the man began to comply with the 34-year-old with the machete, he said the "suspect hurled the machete at him along with a handful of palmetto berries." The surveyor told authorities the handle of the machete bounced off of his chest, but he was not injured.

Wright then went back into the brush and got in a white Dodge Challenger and left the area, authorities say.

A nearby deputy was aware of the situation and made a connection to a similar circumstance that happened in August 2021 involving Brandon Wright running around naked in the same area, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office says.

Credit: Volusia County Sheriff's Office
Brandon Wright, 34, arrested in DeLand, Florida

Moments later, authorities said the Dodge Challenger's license plate was picked up on a plate reader in the DeLand area and a report later came in that a naked man was outside of a gas station on South Spring Garden Avenue. A helicopter was able to sport Wright from above and DeLand police officers were able to take Wright into custody.

Wright was charged with attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Wright also had other convictions in prior years, including possession of cocaine, resisting an officer without violence and kidnapping.

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