Press Releases - OcalaPD.com

Staged Robbery
Two people have been arrested in an armed robbery case that turned out to have been staged.
On Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at approximately 5:47 pm, officers responded to the Bank of America, located at 2326 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, in reference to a report of an Armed Robbery to a person at the night deposit box. At the scene, b/f Teresa LaShawn Johnson, DOB 01/10/74, reported that she’d arrived to make the deposit for the company she works for, USA Cash Today, Inc. at approximately 5:45 pm. As she was preparing to drop the deposit bag into the night depository, a subject carrying a light blue umbrella came up behind her. The subject placed “something” into her back, which she thought was a gun, and said, “Don’t Move.” The subject then took the bank bag from under her left arm and fled to the rear of the bank building. Johnson advised to having seen the subject get into a black, 4-door vehicle and flee eastbound on E. Silver Springs Blvd. She advised that she did not see the suspect very well, but thought he might be Hispanic. The bank bag had over $6,000.00 in cash in it and a separate check for $5,000.00 from USA Cash Today, Inc. Surveillance video recovered from the scene matched the description of the incident that Johnson gave. The suspect’s face was in shadows and unable to be seen. On July 15, 2009, Detective Matthew Bos spoke with Johnson about the case. During that conversation, Johnson changed her story and advised that the suspect was a Hispanic male named “Michael”, whom she’d met in April of 2009. She advised that he’d asked about the procedures at her work and when she would do the deposit, then threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about his questions. Johnson advised that she’d known it was “Michael” as soon as she heard his voice, and had spoken to him since the incident. She said that he again made threats to her if she told the police about him. Johnson did give a last name for the suspect, and he was identified as h/m Michael Angelo Irizarry, III, DOB 11/08/76. Detective Bos obtained a warrant for the arrest of Irizarry for the offense of Robbery. Irizarry was arrested by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on today’s date, 07/16/09, on the outstanding warrant. Detective Bos immediately responded to the Lake County Jail and interviewed Irizarry. Irizarry advised that this incident had been Johnson’s idea and that he had met with her the following day and given her $1,500.00 of the money and he kept the rest. He denied threatening Johnson or her family. Later on today’s date, Detective Bos spoke with Johnson again at the Ocala Police Department. During this interview, Johnson did confirm her participation in the staged Robbery turned over $500.00 to Det. Bos, which she said was all of the money she received from Irizarry from this incident. Teresa L. Johnson was arrested by Det. Bos at that time for 1 count of Grand Theft and 1 Count of False Report to Law Enforcement. She was booked into the Marion County Jail without incident. Sgt. Angy Scroble, PIO Ocala Police Department 352-369-7131 352-427-3139 ascroble@ocalapd.org
Posted on Jul 16, 2009 16:09pm by ascroble (Return to Articles)

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