A South Florida man was arrested at a Publix in St. Lucie County on Sunday morning after a woman told one of the store’s employees that he had kidnapped her in Broward County, police said.
Michael Francis Jablonski, 60, of West Palm Beach, parked his white van at the Publix at Tradition Square in Port St. Lucie shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday and entered the store. The woman also entered the store at some point and reported to an employee that a “family friend” had kidnapped her in Davie, nearly 100 miles south, Port St. Lucie Police said in a news release Monday. The Publix employee hid the woman in an office and called police.
Jablonski was coming out of the store when officers arrived, a probable cause affidavit said. He told officers no one else was in his van and tried to get inside of it despite one officer’s orders not to, the affidavit said.
An officer pulled Jablonski out of the van as he resisted, and a struggle between him and the officers ensued once outside, according to the affidavit. Jablonski tried to run away but fell into some bushes when one of the officers pushed him.
The second officer then shocked Jablonski with a Taser. Jablonski continued to resist until the officer who shocked him “used pain compliance” to put Jablonski in handcuffs, according to the affidavit.
Jablonski was booked into the St. Lucie County jail on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting with violence.
After Jablonski was arrested, the woman told officers he had sexually assaulted her in the van when they were parked at business near the Gatlin Boulevard exit of Interstate 95, also in Port St. Lucie, the police department said in the news release.
Davie Police and Port St. Lucie Police are investigating the allegations of kidnapping and sexual assault, the news release said. Additional charges may be filed against Jablonski, authorities said.
Davie Police is not releasing information about its active investigation, said Officer Breanna Sibole, a spokesperson for the department.
Jablonski has a criminal history in Broward County, Florida Department of Corrections records show. He was released from prison in 2016 after serving a year for trafficking in stolen property and giving false information to a pawnbroker. In an earlier case, he was released from prison in 2012 after serving a year for burglary and grand theft.