News and Investigations

News & Investigations

News Releases and Public Information

Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.

PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Meghan Petty. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.

The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.

28-year old Wesley Vazquez Andino and 26-year old Adriana Oyola Del Valle

Apr 25, 2023

Suspects wanted for murder near Bartow captured in Delaware

Media Contact: Brian Bruchey, PIO

Two murder suspects who were being sought by detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office were arrested by Delaware State Police on April 7, 2023. They were wanted for their part in the murder of a 34-year old Benjamin Mason III of Bartow, who was fatally shot while riding a motorcycle.

28-year old Wesley Vazquez Andino and 26-year old Adriana Oyola Del Valle were located and arrested on Polk County Warrants. Vazquez Andino has been charged with 1st Degree Murder (FC), while Oyola Del Valle was charged with Accessory to a Capital Felony (F1). Both were brought back to Polk County on April 24, 2023 and have been indicted by a Grand Jury.

The shooting occurred on March 26, 2023 at around 2:09 pm on Wheeler Street, in unincorporated Gordon Heights northeast of Bartow.

An autopsy revealed that a bullet entered Mason’s lower back, then travelled through his kidney, diaphragm, and lung.

Witnesses were only able to describe a blue Jeep and a short Hispanic male at the scene. That information was developed and eventually led PCSO detectives to the suspects’ shared residence on Chestnut Woods Drive in Lakeland, but they discovered that the couple hurriedly fled from there.

The couple was tracked down to a residence belonging to a relative of Oyola Del Valle in Wilmington, Delaware.

Following her arrest, Oyola Del Valle told a PCSO detective that they had attempted to purchase a dirt bike via Facebook Marketplace, and paid a requested $100 deposit. After paying the deposit, she said the seller hung up on them when they called him again, then blocked their number. The couple went to find the seller of the dirt bike in Gordon Heights. They saw Mason on the same dirt bike and yelled out to him, but Mason drove past them and drove away. Oyola Del Valle said that is when Vazquez Andino fired one shot at Mason, and then they fled from the scene.

Oyola Del Valle also said that her three children were in the Jeep at the time of the shooting.

“Witnesses weren’t able to give much information, but what they did provide was just enough that the PCSO homicide detectives were able to get on the right path toward solving this senseless murder. It was exceptional work by the detectives, but it also illustrates how even the smallest tip can help solve a crime.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff