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Local business owners help JSO arrest man wanted for sexual battery

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man wanted by JSO for sexual battery is now in jail, thanks to an alert customer at a local restaurant and the quick thinking of a business owner and his friend.

The owners of the Seasoned CrabHouse in Southside Estates showed us surveillance video of Shateak Jones, captured by a camera right in front of their business.

One of the owners told Action News Jax's Courtney Cole he was determined not to let him escape unnoticed, so he called 911 immediately.

As a new business owner in Southside Estates, Mike Vartanian says he'd do anything to help keep the community safe.

"Me being a father myself, I wouldn’t want no dangerous person out there to society,” Vartanian said.

He didn't know he'd have the opportunity to make a difference so soon.

On Friday, Vartanian was sitting outside the Seasoned CrabHouse, when a customer ran up to him and told him he saw Shateak Jones.

Action News Jax told you earlier this week that Jones was wanted by JSO in connection with a sexual battery case.

"I’m like no way, so I ran inside, grabbed my phone...called 911,” said Vartanian.

It didn't end there. Vartanian says he and his friend wanted to make sure Jones didn't get away.

"So we just got in the car — we followed him. While we was following him, we were on the other line with the police,” said Jalil Paul, a friend of Vartanian.

"When he was by the woods, that’s when we lost him,” Vartanian told Action News Jax Courtney Cole.

But officers with The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office were able to pick up where they left off.

"They brought him down here in the back of the cop car on the way to jail,” Vartanian said.

According to Vartanian, this wasn’t the first time Jones had shown up at the restaurant.

The surveillance video shows Shateak Jones in front of the Seasoned CrabHouse on Monday.

Vartanian and Paul say they know it may have been dangerous to go after a wanted man, but they feel better knowing he's off the streets.

“I want the best for the community, that’s the main reason. I didn’t think twice about it,” Vertanian said.

Paul says he’d do it all over again … all to make sure his child and children in the community are safe.

“I just made an oath, you know, because I have a daughter and whatnot. She walks around here. I just made an oath — next time I see him — he’s going down,” said Paul.

Vartanian and Jones says Crimestoppers is offering them a reward, but the say it’s not about the money. They would have done it for free.

Jones is in jail on a half-million dollar bond.