By Tamas Mondovics
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, District 4 deputies arrested four Riverview area teens and a young adult after they allegedly lured and robbed a man who was responding to a Craiglist advertisement.
While the teens’ arrest did not take long following the robbery, it came with a long list of heavy charges, including grand theft motor vehicle, possession of Marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, fleeing to elude (high speed) and trespassing an unoccupied structure, just to name a few.
According to HCSO report, deputies responded to a robbery of a person and a carjacking at 11806 Lynmoor Drive in Riverview.
HCSO said, the victim stated that he went to the residence in response to an ad he had placed on Craigslist. He said that a female had contacted him to get an estimate for repair work at the residence.
When he arrived at the residence, he was greeted by two female suspects along with a male suspect, who then forcibly removed the victim’s wallet, car keys, and cellular phone, after which they fled in the victim’s vehicle, a Chevrolet Cruze, deputies said.
The incident was far from over. While en route to the scene, deputies observed the stolen vehicle in the area of Big Bend Road and Interstate 75, and attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle, which then fled southbound on Interstate 75, resulting in short, but high speed chase.
Deputies followed and said that the suspects continued southbound on Interstate 75 exiting at Sun City Center.
The vehicle became disabled when it ran over a raised concrete storm drain within the Cypress Creek Subdivision.
Three of the five suspects in the vehicle ran, but were apprehended after a brief foot pursuit and assistance from HCSO Aviation, deputies said.
The four teen suspects were identified as Shaelin Taylor Gray, Katelyn Elizabeth, Jacob Paul-Lee Fitzwater, Javier Jose Lopez. The fifth suspect is Kennard Malik Wells, 20.
HCSO is urging residents to continue to show discernment when responding to online ads, and offers the use of district office parking lots as a meeting spot, visit www.hcso.tampa.fl.us.
