Man Charged With 3 Felonies For Breaking 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera

A man in Oviedo, Florida was charged with three felonies after destroying a 3D-printed plastic replica of a Flock license-plate reader camera that police had installed as a sting device, according to 404 Media. The arrest was made shortly after midnight on August 20, 2026.

Evan Meyer was charged with attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies, per an arrest report obtained by 404 Media. The report states the sting was set up after several real Flock Safety cameras were stolen along the Lockwood Boulevard corridor between July 23 and August 3, 2026. An officer fabricated the decoy cameras at home using a personally owned 3D printer and donated them to the department — the Oviedo Police Department does not own a 3D printer. Oviedo mayor Megan Sladek told 404 Media the fake camera cost "free." Meyer knocked the replica off a pole using his father's pruning shears and smashed it on the ground.

The legal theory underpinning the felony charges rests largely on Meyer's own stated beliefs, according to the arrest report. When asked how much he thought the camera was worth, Meyer said approximately "$1,000–$5,000," and the report argues this shows he believed he was destroying expensive real equipment. The report also notes Meyer told police he had been reading "negative things online" about Flock cameras and the company's CEO, and decided to destroy the one closest to his house. The actual replacement cost of a real Flock camera is listed in the report as $800, plus installation fees.

The operation has no apparent paper trail, a fact that drew scrutiny from the mayor. The Oviedo Police Department told 404 Media there are "no meeting minutes, no text messages, and no emails regarding the production of a decoy FLOCK camera prior to the arrest." The department has declined to release additional records, claiming an ongoing criminal investigation exempts them. Oviedo police chief Dale Coleman told Mayor Sladek he approved the plan and that officers monitored the fake cameras every night from the Sunday before the arrest through Thursday morning. The arrest was first reported by News 6 Orlando.

Mayor Sladek, an attorney, posted on Facebook that she had "NO idea" the operation was underway and said she was "speechless," per 404 Media. She raised a pointed timing question: just days before the arrest, a majority of the Oviedo city council had agreed to consider ending the city's use of Flock cameras entirely. "When the fake cameras were fabricated and installed relative to a very public discussion about their potential discontinuation is something I would like to know," she wrote. In a separate email to 404 Media, Sladek noted that even if Meyer knew the camera was fake, "that would still make it art, and it would still be vandalism," though she stopped short of commenting on the appropriateness of the felony charges.

404 Media notes the operation echoes Amazon "package sting" operations run by police departments years ago, in which empty boxes were placed on porches while officers watched — those resulted in zero known arrests. The outlet also found several free Flock camera replica models available on 3D printing model sites. How the state's attorney will ultimately proceed with the felony charges against Meyer remains to be seen; Sladek noted in her Facebook post that charging decisions rest with the state's attorney's office, not the police department.