WINTER PARK, Fla. — The man who Winter Park police have identified as a person of interest in the disappearance and death of an Altamonte Springs woman has a violent criminal history, court records show.
Winter Park police chief Michael Deal identified the person of interest in Jennifer Fulford’s death as 53-year-old Scott Edward Nelson.
According to federal court records, Nelson has served prison sentences for two robberies—one in Vermont in 1994, and one in Daytona Beach in 2010.
Police: Missing woman's body found; person of interest identified
Nelson attacked his father and forced him to rob a Vermont bank in 1994, federal records show.
While in prison, Nelson was disciplined for violent conduct, “including eleven instances of assault without serious injury, two instances of possession of a dangerous weapon and fifteen reports of threatening bodily harm.”
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Nelson violated his probation upon being released in 2008 when he fled his parole officer, records show. He was eventually released from federal prison in 2010—11 days before robbing a bank in Daytona Beach.
In December 2010, Nelson entered a Wachovia bank on West International Speedway Boulevard and handed an employee a five-page handwritten note stating everyone in the bank would die unless he received all the “paper money” in the bank.
Read: Person of interest remains at large after nanny goes missing in Winter Park
Nelson also claimed to have with him a bomb, a .45 caliber handgun, a Taser and pepper spray.
After receiving a large amount of cash, Nelson fled the bank on foot, leaving behind a device resembling a homemade bomb. He was captured in the bank’s parking lot by officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department.
Watch: File footage of Scott Nelson's 2010 Daytona Beach robbery
He pleaded guilty to bank robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
He was released in mid-May.
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Nelson used an ATM to access Fulford’s bank account, police said.
Police released a photo Thursday of Nelson, who they want to speak with about the disappearance.
Nelson was wearing a shirt with a logo from a nearby personal training facility near the Well's Fargo bank where money was withdrawn from Fulford's account.
On its Facebook page, the company, Workout 32789, said that the person of interest had never been to the facility.
"The person of interest featured in the media photo has never been an employee or client of this studio," the Facebook post said.
No one was available at Workout 32789's Pennsylvania Avenue facility for comment Friday.
Fulford was last heard from shortly before 11:45 a.m. Wednesday at a home at East Webster Avenue and Golfview Terrace across from the Winter Park Country Club, Winter Park police Sgt. Garvin McComie said.
Cox Media Group
