Crime & Safety
Lakeland Man Held Knife As He Lay In Bed Waiting For Deputies
Residents in a Lake Wales neighborhood accused a man of pointing a rifle at them Tuesday morning before he grabbed a knife.
POLK COUNTY, FL — Two Polk County suspects in unrelated incidents have been accused by authorities of wielding a knife at residents and deputies on Monday and Tuesday, a Polk County Sheriff's Office news release said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Raymen Houston of Lakeland faces a charge of resisting an officer with violence and a PCSO warrant for failure to appear charge after deputies arrested Houston Monday night, authorities said.
The second suspect, 45-year-old Dennis Gudgen of Lake Wales, faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, improper exhibition of a firearm and violation of injunction by possessing a firearm following deputies' arrest of Gudgen Tuesday morning, the news release said.
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According to deputies, Houston is accused of holding a knife in his hand as he lay in bed when deputies went inside his room, 539 Empire Avenue, Lakeland, just before 9 p.m. on Monday.
Authorities accused Houston of not following the deputies' orders to drop the knife. Following the refusal, a deputy used his Taser on Houston and then deputies arrested him. Houston is being held without bond at the Polk County Jail.
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Second Knife-Wielding Incident
Deputies said Gudgen went from pointing an AR15 at neighbors to arming himself with a knife in the Lake Wales neighborhood where he lived Tuesday morning at about 1 a.m.
Neighbors accused Gudgen of pointing an AR15 at them as he stood outside before a neighbor talked Gudgen into surrendering the rifle to him, according to an affidavit.
Gudgen went inside his house before deputies arrived and armed himself with a knife, authorities said.
"I'm not going back to jail," Gudgen told deputies.
Eventually deputies got the knife away from Gudgen.
Detectives found numerous loaded magazines, parts to assemble another AR15 and ammunition, deputies said.
Gudgen is being held without bond in the Polk County Jail.
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