One of two UF students who stole and destroyed their roommate’s laptop in July turned himself in Sunday, Gainesville Police said.
David Solomon Daaka, 22, found legal counsel after he and Matthew Glen Fillingim, 21,were suspected by police of taking a laptop from one of their roommates during the summer at 1105 SW Fifth Ave. The roommate discovered his laptop was gone on July 6 and used a tracking software to determine when the laptop was last online, which revealed it was last used July 5 near the living room area of the house, according to an arrest report.
The roommate searched the living room but was unable to find his laptop, which was valued at $1,000. He asked Daaka, whose bedroom is one floor above the living room, if he had seen his laptop. Daaka told the victim he had not seen it, according to the report.
On July 14, he overheard a phone call between Daaka and Fillingim, who was on speaker phone, while he was in his bedroom. Since the roommate could clearly hear the conversation between Daaka and Fillingim, he began recording the conversation on his cell phone, placing it in the crack underneath his door, according to the report.
An officer who listened to the recording said Daaka and Fillingim spoke about how they disliked the victim because of his cleanliness habits and how he did not pay certain shared house bills. The two also spoke about the stolen laptop, according to the report.
“I opened it to snap the top half off the bottom half. I don’t know if it turned off, or turned off quick enough, though, and then we just like smashed it up and tossed it in the sewer,” Fillingim said in the recording.
“Yeah, f--- that kid,” Daaka said later in the recording.
Fillingim was also heard in the recording saying that he was going to take the victim’s shoes so he could get some of his money back.
In an interview with police on Oct. 5, Fillingim told police the victim was late on paying his utility bill. He said he and Daaka did not have any involvement in the missing laptop, according to the report.
Fillingim was arrested and charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief. He was taken to Alachua County Jail where he was released on his own recognizance Oct. 6.
Daaka turned himself in Sunday, according to the report. He was arrested and charged with burglary and theft. He was taken to Alachua County Jail where he was released on his own recognizance Monday afternoon.
Daaka and Fillingim are UF students, according to the UF student directory.
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