Defendant who bolted from Wilson courtroom during trial caught in Florida

A man who fled from Wilson County last month during his trial on attempted murder charges has been apprehended in Florida, authorities said Friday.

Deonta Earl Bridgers, 31, was arrested Wednesday in Jacksonville, Fla., on a fugitive warrant. There was no word on when he would be returned to North Carolina.

Bridgers was on trial and failed to return to court following a lunch break on April 13. He had been on house arrest and wasn't in custody.

Wilson County deputies found his electronic monitoring device at a dilapidated house, but there was no trace of him.

The jury convicted him in absentia the following day.

In November 2015, Devon Shamark Crooms vanished during a lunch break in his trial in Wilson County. A jury convicted him in absentia on charges stemming from two shooting deaths in 2011. Crooms was captured in Florida after seven months on the run.