WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a man on a New Jersey warrant for murder, kidnapping, carjacking and weapons charges, the agency said in a news release.
James Lewis, 51, was taken into custody Tuesday morning at a home in Winter Haven, according to the office.
Deputies say information from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office explains Lewis shot and killed a man on Sept. 18 in East Orange, New Jersey, during a carjacking.
He then reportedly zip-tied the girlfriend of the person he was stealing from and took the car with her in it. Lewis eventually crashed the car a short time later, the release says.
He previously was convicted of homicide in a 1989 case, in which he was also found guilty of robbery and possession of a weapon, according to deputies. He reportedly served 30 years in combined jail and prison time but had been sentenced for longer.
“He spent only 30 years in prison when he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for homicide, robbery, and possession of a weapon. In less than two years of being released early, he murdered again," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
"The reason we have prisons is to keep violent and repeat criminals away from victims and innocent people in the community.”
After he was arrested, deputies got a search warrant for the Polk County home, which helped find evidence linked to the East Orange investigation, the sheriff's office reports.
