A 20-year-old man in Florida has been arrested after allegedly admitting to stalking his ex-girlfriend for months and plotting a terrifying attack on both her and her father.
Jalen Vallejos was picked up by a deputy from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office late on Sunday night after the officer spotted him behaving suspiciously in the neighbourhood. According to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, the deputy described Vallejos as wearing a dark hoodie with the hood up, using both hands to hide his face as the patrol car passed. Not exactly subtle.
Bodycam footage showed Vallejos dressed in several layers despite the balmy 76°F weather, including multiple shirts and jeans under his hoodie, and a black ski mask rolled up like a beanie. When asked why he was bundled up, he simply said, “it gets kind of cold out.”
The deputy quickly noticed that Vallejos was also carrying a pocketknife and had burrs and brush stuck to his clothing and shoes, suggesting he’d been trekking through thick vegetation. Things escalated further when it was revealed he had a lock-picking tool on him. Given the recent spike in local car thefts, that was enough to justify detaining him.
Once he was in custody, Vallejos allegedly made some deeply unsettling admissions. According to the deputy, Vallejos confessed he had been watching his ex sleep and had planned to break into her home that very night. He told the officer he wanted to pick the lock on her back gate, sneak in to observe her sleeping, then return to his car to retrieve a backpack full of gear.
And this wasn’t just a random collection of odd items. Inside the bag, Vallejos allegedly had duct tape to cover security cameras, wire cutters and snips to disable them, black spray paint to deface the garage, and even a sledgehammer. According to the complaint, he admitted the hammer was intended to break down the front door and “defend himself” from the woman’s father.
When the deputy pressed further and asked if he planned to hurt anyone, Vallejos reportedly said he did intend to harm the father and eventually admitted he might hurt his ex as well. When asked directly if he intended to kill her, his chilling response was allegedly, “yeah, eventually.”
After this disturbing confession, the deputy contacted Vallejos’ ex, who confirmed they’d ended their relationship six months ago following a two-year romance. She and her father were said to be shocked and frightened, telling the deputy they feared for their lives and would be pressing charges.
Vallejos is now being held without bond at the Volusia County Jail, with aggravated stalking among the charges he’s facing.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood didn’t mince words during a press conference on Monday. He commended the deputy for acting quickly and said the contents of Vallejos’s backpack were enough to convince him that something far more serious could have happened. “I mean, that’s got all the signs to me that somebody’s getting killed,” he said.