Update: Boca detectives arrest suspect in
two strong arm robberies
click for cvs video
click for chevron video
Boca Raton, FL – The two crimes happened last Friday afternoon. The first victim, a 75 year old female, had just left a CVS when a male tried to steal her purse. The second victim, an 87 year old man, was just entering the City Mattress when a male grabbed him from behind and took his wallet and money clip. A witness to the second robbery described the getaway vehicle and provided a possible tag number.
Boca Raton Police detectives learned that shortly after the second robbery, the suspect used the second victim’s credit card at a Chevron gas station in Deerfield Beach. The video showed the blue SUV pull up to a gas pump, the suspect exit the driver’s door, pump gas, and then enter the gas station. The video shows an unidentified black male get out of the passenger side, walk around the vehicle and get into the driver’s seat.
Boca Raton detectives ran a comprehensive check on vehicles similar to the description provide by the witness and found a likely match. On Tuesday, December 13th, detectives went to the home of the vehicle’s registered owner and spoke with her husband, Michael Thomas. Thomas told officers that a male named Russell Horne had been using his wife’s car. Detectives showed Thomas photographs from the surveillance video from the CVS and the Chevron. He immediately identified the suspect as Horne.
Thomas told detectives that on that Friday morning he drove to an apartment complex in Pompano, where he picked up Horne. According to Thomas he was not feeling well and let Horne drive while he slept. Thomas said he woke up in a strip mall, got out of the vehicle and saw Horne walking up and telling him to get back into the car. He fell back asleep and woke when Horne yelled, “I did it again!” Thomas said they drove to the gas station seen in the video, but he was unaware that Horne was committing robberies while he slept in the passenger seat.
On Wednesday, December 14, detectives arrested Horne and charged him with one count of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.
Arrested:
Russell Horne
DOB 07/15/1967
Boca Raton, FL
CVS: Chevron:
