Mark Price
Miami Herald
(TNS)

A 72-year-old man has been identified as the “Nail Bandit” responsible for tossing sharp objects in the path of fire and rescue vehicles headed to emergencies, Florida investigators say.

John Allan Starnes faces “multiple felonies” in the case, which involved “repeated acts of sabotage targeting Okeechobee County Fire Rescue Station 1 and the Emergency Operations Center,” the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 10 news release.

“Over the past 19 months, sharp objects — including nails and modified wire wheels — were intentionally thrown behind fire rescue vehicles and emergency access points,” the sheriff’s office said.

“These actions caused tire damage and endangered fire personnel and the public they serve, potentially delaying emergency response.”

A team began investigating the incidents in April and six other occurrences were documented in the months since, officials said.

“After weeks of surveillance, deputies witnessed Starnes commit the act in real-time during the early hours of July 10. Following a traffic stop, Starnes confessed to all six documented incidents (occurring since April),” the sheriff’s office said. “He was arrested and charged with multiple felonies.”

Evidence found during his arrest includes a collection of nails, screws and sharp objects that could be used to puncture tires, officials said.

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Okeechobee County Sheriff Noel E. Stephen noted at a press conference that targets over the 19 months included emergency response vehicles and privately owned vehicles parked at county facilities.

Punctured tires are potentially deadly for first responders, who frequently drive at high speeds to fires, crashes and medical emergencies, Stephen said.

Starnes “has a beef” with Okeechobee County Fire Rescue and the Okeechobee County Commission, and resorted to handling the situation by tampering with the vehicles of first responders, the sheriff said.

Details of Starnes’ alleged grievance were not released.

“Tampering with fire rescue vehicles is not just criminal — it endangers every resident of this county,” Chief Deputy Michael Hazellief said in the release.

Specifics of the charges against Starnes were not released.

The county’s fire department is based in Okeechobee, which is about a 110-mile drive southeast from Orlando.

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ROSENBAUER—Ash Township Fire Department in Carleton, MI, pumper-tanker. Commander 6011 cab and chassis; Cummins LD 450-hp engine; Waterous CSC20 1,250-gpm pump; UPF Poly 1,700-gallon water tank. Dealer: Wendy Simon, Front Line Services, Inc., Freeland, MI.

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• RELATED: Fire Apparatus Purchasing in 2025

It is no secret that lead times for fire apparatus are currently at levels the fire service has rarely seen. There was a time that when an order was placed, a department could expect its new rig to arrive in 12 to 18 months. In recent years, that has changed, but there is no one event that can be considered the root cause. Rather, the delays currently experienced across the industry are, in general, the cumulative result of several factors.

MULTIPLE DRIVERS

The Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association (FAMA) collects high-level, anonymized data available exclusively to members that provide insights into historical trends. FAMA’s Board approved the specific release of annual data to help demonstrate the magnitude of recent industry trends.

Graph 1, based on FAMA data, contrasts the relatively consistent prepandemic pattern of fire apparatus orders booked and shipped from 2011 to 2019. The average baselines for this period are shown as dotted lines across the width of the graph.

The lead times for custom fire apparatus are already generally longer than other commercial vehicle manufacturing industries because of custom engineering, lower volume, and high-variability manufacturing processes. Many fire apparatus are customized to meet the specific needs of the communities they will serve. The already longer lead times are magnified when booked orders surge over a short period of time and exceed the industry capacity, which is what started to occur after the pandemic.

In 2022, demand increased to exceed the typical supply by 45% while production fell by 9%—because of labor and supply chain disruptions that resulted from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Apparatus purchasing committees and fire apparatus manufacturer representatives could not travel for in-person meetings as the pandemic began, which resulted in delays in research, spec writing, and associated approvals—although these circumstances improved as virtual technologies like Zoom helped connect OEMs and their customers during the pandemic. On top of this, stimulus funding became available, and many municipalities allocated some of those funds to help update aging apparatus fleets—updates that were curtailed during the pandemic—which exacerbated the already higher levels of incoming orders and created a sharp surge in demand.

As meeting and travel restrictions relaxed, many municipalities recognized that lead times were increasing and accelerated their ordering cycles to ensure future availability. This understandable response added to the surge in booked orders and compounded the already challenging lead time concerns.

Graph 1 shows that from 2022 forward, the past 12 to 18 months of booked and shipped orders are moving toward more typical levels.

WHAT ABOUT THE SUPPLY C

The Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office arrested John Allan Starnes, 72, following a lengthy investigation into repeated acts of sabotage targeting Okeechobee County Fire Rescue Station 1 and the Emergency Operations Center, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post July 10, 2025.

Over the past 19 months, sharp objects—including nails and modified wire wheels—were intentionally thrown behind fire rescue vehicles and emergency access points. These actions caused tire damage and endangered fire personnel and the public they serve, potentially delaying emergency response.

The case, dubbed “Operation Nail Bandit,” was led by the sheriff’s office Community Action Team (CAT).

After weeks of surveillance, deputies witnessed Starnes commit the act in real-time during the early hours of July 10. Following a traffic stop, Starnes confessed to all six documented incidents.

He was arrested and charged with multiple felonies.

“Tampering with fire rescue vehicles is not just criminal—it endangers every resident of this county,” Chief Deputy Michael Hazellief. “We are grateful no one was hurt, and proud of the focused work of our CAT team.”

Starnes was booked into the Okeechobee County Jail. Bond will be set at first appearance.

If you have information on similar activity, please contact the sheriff’s office at (863) 763-3117.

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