VALRICO, Fla. — Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a suspect accused of deliberating spreading nails on the roads, causing a lot of flat tires.

What You Need To Know

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a suspect accused of deliberating spreading nails on the roads, causing a lot of flat tires

Residents say that Miller Road and other surrounding streets had nails beginning in October

Police are asking anyone who had a flat tire due to nails in the area to file a report

Residents say Miller Road was one of the main targets. Beginning in October, this road has been littered with nails, and now, knowing someone did this intentionally, they’re left wondering why.

“So this is the tire it got,” said Heather Johnson. She was one of the “Nail Bandit’s” most recent victims, and after avoiding Miller Road for the last few months, she says that on Monday night, she had a flat tire.

“On Monday night I had to take this road, and I got hit, I got hit by the nail bandit and my tire had a nail in it so when I got home it was leaking air everywhere and I had to drive to the tire shop and $350 later, I had to replace the tire. This has been going on for months,” she said.

Catching the Nail Bandit became a community-wide goal after people started posting about having nails in their tires after driving on Miller Road, Durant and nearby streets.

“Residents have been posting pictures about collecting nails all over, and they’ve had their Ring doorbell cameras trying to capture who’s doing this and if they’re falling off of a truck. It’s supposedly roofing nails,” said Johnson.

Sandy Townsend saw those same social media posts and she wanted to help her neighbors, so she created the “Have You Been Nailed” Facebook group to help collect data, which she took straight to Hillsborough County deputies.

“They’re trying to figure out who is doing this, why they’re doing it, they’re posting pictures of their tires with nails, they’re posting pictures of nails they’ve found on the street,” said Townsend.

The group has grown to nearly 800 members, and Townsend says now that an arrest has been made, she hopes things get back to normal, and her neighbors can safely drive around without fear of getting a flat.

“I encourage people to if they have any nail damage to go to the sheriff’s office on Falkenburg Road and file a report in person, and that’s the best way to help right now and make sure justice is served,” she said.

HCSO believes there could be a lot of victims out there who haven’t filed a report yet, so they’re also encouraging anyone who had a nail, or nails, in their tires after driving through Valrico to file a report as soon as possible. At this time, they say it is still an active investigation, so they haven’t identified the suspect or said any possible motives.