TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Authorities have arrested a 26-year-old Cocoa man who they say threatened a Titusville hotel clerk with a handgun during a robbery early Saturday.
The Titusville Police Department said Quantavis Rashon Esau was wearing black clothes with his face covered when he entered the Quality Inn Hotel at 3655 Cheney Highway, just west of Interstate 95, around 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Armed with a gun, Esau threatened a front desk clerk and took money from a cash register, police said.
After Titusville police said detectives found "substantial evidence" linking Esau to the robbery, they arrested him Wednesday night with help from the Brevard County Sheriff's Office's Game Over Task Force, News 6 partner Florida Today reported..
Esau has been charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, grand theft and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Esau has two prior convictions on drug charges in 2012 and 2013, court records show.
He is being held without bond at the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes.
Saturday morning's armed robbery was the fourth in Titusville this month.
Over the weekend, police said someone else robbed the Cumberland Farms gas station on South Hopkins Avenue.
Earlier in July, two different robbers stormed into a Pizza Hut and the China 1 restaurant on Harrison Street, police said.
Police said the robbers are still out there in those cases.
That's frightening to Melvin Wang.
Police said Melvin's father, the owner of China 1, gave a robber, caught on surveillance video, the cash but was shot any way.
Translated by a restaurant employee, Wang told News 6 Thursday, "As long as this person is still out there, we're afraid he could come back."
Wang told News 6 his dad, who was shot in the leg, needs a walker to get around as he recovers.
The restaurant is back open, but business is slow.
Workers said they think customers might be afraid to come in.
"We really need support in this difficult time. We love our customers, please come in and eat with us," Wang said.
Police are asking anyone with information to call them.
"Take another look at that surveillance footage. We've gotten multiple tips and detectives are intensely investigating that right now," Amy Matthews, of Titusville Police, said.