Caught suspect says he could have outrun deputy with "hood speed"

SARASOTA, Fla. - A 37-year-old man with a lengthy rap sheet that stretches across Manatee, Sarasota and Pinellas Counties says he could have outrun deputies in his latest crime had he moved with “hood speed,” the Sun Sentinel reports.

The FP&L building in Sarasota had asked deputies to assist in monitoring their business after experiencing a number of recent thefts.

On Thursday, a deputy planted in an FP&L truck spotted Cornelius McClern forcing the front door of a storage building open. The suspect got access to that door after entering the building through another door that was left open.

McClern was reportedly looking at a tool shelf when a deputy confronted him and arrested him.

While in jail, McClern told the deputy he could have outrun him with hood speed if the deputy didn’t have his taser out.

He also confessed to the deputy that he shouldn’t have entered through the front door and he was being “greedy.”

McClern has accumulated 53 charges since 1990, and he was released from prison in March, but went right back to jail for similar charges in June.

He is now charged with Burglary of an Occupied Structure, Possession of Burglary Tools and Criminal Mischief.