VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is issuing a stern warning to promoters behind the recently announced “Daytona Beach Pier Takeover.”
In a release on Monday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said that the promoters — identified as Dylan Barbra, Keishawn Hampton, and Ryan Kohr — had posted flyers on social media about the event, which was slated to run through April 11.
“They got cease and desist letters, calls, messages, and multiple warnings,” the release reads. “They took down the flyers, only to try and revive this ‘Takeover’ on their Instagram stories, group chats and the same Eventbrite link.”
Now, Chitwood is asking the trio to ask themselves: is it worth it?
“You’re on a path to join the list of promoters facing costly lawsuits and potential criminal charges for bringing chaos to our community,” Sheriff Chitwood wrote.
Last month, a similarly unsanctioned “Daytona Takeover” event went viral, bringing thousands of people to the city for the first weekend of spring break.
Overall, over 130 arrests were reported countywide.
The resulting chaos sparked backlash from the city itself, which cracked down with a temporary youth curfew and increased law enforcement presence in the area.
[BELOW: City’s handling of chaotic Daytona Beach weekend questioned amid pop-up event, shootings]
“We’re trying to go after this Brooks, Elijah Brooks, who’s one of the promoters, and this Brittany Plummer for aggravated rioting,” Chitwood told News 6 at the time.
Chitwood also said investigators and attorneys were looking at what happened to area businesses during the hectic pop-up event.
“We have a private attorney here who has been going around all these businesses to ask how much money they lost last week, with the mobs running into the stores and stealing stuff and cancellations and all the other inconvenience that they had,” he continued.
[BELOW: Daytona Beach cracks down after chaotic Spring Break weekend]