The man who killed one person when he drove a semi-trailer through a Florida strip club from which he had been kicked out sent incriminating text messages to a childhood friend before carrying out his evil revenge plan, police claim.
“Goodbye,” Dylan Fogle wrote, according to an arrest report.
“I’m going to prison for manslaughter.”
The 25-year-old North Carolina man was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder, attempted murder, negligent homicide, manslaughter while intoxicated and drunk driving causing serious bodily harm.
His mug shot shows Fogle with a busted lip and several cuts on his face from the insane plot, which police say followed an argument outside the bar.
According to a police report obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, officers found Fogle staggering and showing signs of alcohol impairment when they arrived at Emperors Gentleman’s Club in Tampa shortly before 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Fogle allegedly admitted to driving the semi-truck when it crashed into a group of six people, killing 44-year-old Giovanni Soto. However, he claimed it was an accident and that the accelerator pedal was stuck.
However, witnesses stated that Fogle may have been targeting his drinking buddy.
Fogle, of North Carolina, and Anthony Matelsky were at the club together until each of them was individually thrown out for inappropriately touching the same dancer, the report said.
Fogle was the first to be ejected and told police he had been waiting in his semi-trailer for Matelsky, who “became physically aggressive” toward staff after he was escorted outside.
Video footage showed someone throwing Matelsky onto his back, but he jumped back up and continued the confrontation with the group seconds before the semi-trailer rolled through the crowd.
Soto was killed at the scene of the accident. Two others were seriously injured.
Fogle allegedly admitted to driving the truck when he noticed the fight, but claimed he was unable to control the vehicle.
However, when asked about the incriminating text messages, Fogle did not have a usable answer, the report says.
Police had previously stated that Fogle “lay in wait” for at least 30 minutes until a person with whom he had been arguing emerged from the crowd. However, the report did not mention whether the person was Matelsky.
None of the three were the madman’s intended target, police said.
Fogle was also hospitalized following the incident. Police said his blood alcohol content was above the legal limit of 0.08 per mille.
The police report indicates that the semi-trailer belonged to Fogle and that his route took him to Tampa that fateful night.
According to a childhood friend, being a truck driver was his “dream job.”
“It wasn’t something I expected him to do. I know he’s a bit of a wild person, but I never thought in a million years he would do something like that,” Angelise Ortiz, who received Fogle’s last text message before the violence, told the Tampa Bay Times.
“I don’t think he intended to survive.”
