License plate reader helps Collier County deputies find stolen car, suspect

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Xavier Malachi Gray (Credit: CCSO booking photo)

Collier County deputies say a license plate reader helped them find a stolen vehicle and the man they say stole it.

The Jeep Compass was reported stolen Oct. 28 in Golden Gate. Around 4 p.m. Monday, deputies were notified by a license plate reader that the SUV was traveling north on Collier Boulevard in Golden Gate Estates. A deputy patrolling the area spotted the vehicle, followed it and pulled it over.

The driver, Xavier Malachi Gray, 22, and his four passengers were ordered out of the SUV. The passengers were later allowed to leave and Gray was arrested, facing charges of grand theft auto and driving without a license.

The sheriff’s office says Gray is a convicted felon whose prior criminal history includes an arrest last year for grand theft auto. In January 2019 he was arrested and later convicted of stealing a vehicle from the Summer Winds apartment complex in North Naples.

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