BARTOW, Fla. (WFLA) — The man accused in the death of a 9-year old Polk County boy learned Thursday his bond would be elevated.

“My bond’s been paid since Sunday,” Gilbert Almaguer said to Judge Kevin Kohl.

“I just set a bond,” Kohl said.

Almaguer’s arrest warrant showed a $15,000 bond with “no bond at first appearance” listed as a condition of release.

At Almaguer’s first appearance hearing Thursday, Judge Kohl set the bond at $250,000 after the prosecutor requested an elevated bond.

Almaguer, 45, of Bowling Green, is accused of leaving the scene of a crash involving death.

On Friday evening, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Almaguer hit Andres Martinez, 9, of Fort Meade, with his truck on Hutchins Road and did not stop.

Martinez was riding his bicycle to his friend’s house.

According to his arrest affidavit, Almaguer contacted the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office after seeing on Facebook that Martinez had died.

At first, he told deputies he was the passenger in the truck before admitting he was the driver.

“He stated that he was sorry and just got scared. He explained that the kid came out of
nowhere and he did not mean to hit him,” his affidavit reads.

“He turned himself in. A lot of people would try to avoid that situation so that’s a big thing for us right there too,” said Marisol Martinez, Andres’ sister, in an interview this week with News Channel 8. “Everybody makes mistakes. We’re all humans.”

If Almaguer posts his bond, conditions of release include restrictions on travel out of Florida, a nighttime curfew and a ban on possessing or carrying firearms, guns, weapons, ammunition or knives.

Almaguer is scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 7.