FBI, deputies raid Orange County home, resident says they had the wrong address

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County amputee homeowner got a terrifying surprise early Thursday, when about 40 sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents crashed, guns drawn, through his doors and windows only to realize they had the wrong house, the man told Channel 9.

The raid happened at about 5:30 a.m., and homeowner Oscar Capps said he tried to tell the agents and Orange County sheriff’s deputies that the man they wanted was next door.

“They told me they had it as my address, that they had a federal warrant to go inside my house, and I told them, ‘I’ll let you in. I don’t have a problem letting you in,’” he said.

For hours, they searched his Cleburne Road home, all the while Capps continued to tell them they had the wrong address.

Eventually, the agents and deputies did turn their investigation to the home next to Capps’, but the damage done to his home and emotionally to him and his 7-year-old son and 71-year-old relative was already done, he said.

"I am really upset. I have a 7-year-old kid. He needs a door, he needs windows you know," Capps said.

“They are saying there is nothing they are going to do for me,” he said. “They are going to send somebody out to board up the windows and put a door on. So where do I go from here?”

Law enforcement agencies involved in the raid have not released information for what they had been looking.

Agents did arrest Capps next door neighbor, but have not released why the man was taken in to custody.

The FBI sent an email to Eyewitness News stating, "The FBI had a valid arrest and search warrant for 2835 Cleburne Road. At the time of serving the warrant, the person of interest was located next door."

Channel 9's Jeff Levkulich has been asking who will pay for the damage done to Capp's home. Eyewitness News was originally told nobody would pay because the FBI denied it was the wrong house. However, late Thursday, there was a company at the home getting a damage estimate and Levkulich was told the estimate will be sent to the FBI.

The FBI has a legal unit where anyone who believes their home was wrongly damaged from a raid can call and file a claim. The Orange County Sheriff's Office has a similar policy. The FBI told Eyewitness News that homeowners make the necessary repairs first, then submit a reimbursement claim to the FBI.

Cox Media Group