LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Armed robbers targeted a casino in Umatilla around midnight on Thursday, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In an arrest affidavit, deputies said that the armed robbery happened the Hot Seats gambling casino, located along State Road 19. It was reported at 12:45 a.m.
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Upon arrival, deputies said they learned that three men had fled the scene in a grey Hyundai, driving south on the highway.
According to witnesses, all three men were wearing black ski masks and armed with handguns.
“Just prior to the incident, a Black female was attempting to leave the business and opened the door, and within seconds, three Black males stormed in,” the affidavit reads.
Witnesses also said that one of the men pointed his gun at a security guard’s head, demanding he remove his firearm and hand it over to the suspect, deputies added.
“All three subjects then demanded everyone’s cell phone and demanded money from each of them,” the affidavit continues.
The men then commanded one of the employees to open the cashier’s booth, where they ransacked the booth, stashing money from the cash register in a pink drawstring bag, investigators noted.
Investigators say deputies managed to track the vehicle down to Great Lakes Boulevard, where the men abandoned the car and fled on foot, detectives said.
Per the affidavit, deputies searched the area, but as they did so, another vehicle — this time a Nissan Altima driven by a woman — sped toward the area where the grey Hyundai had been abandoned.
However, she quickly left and drove slowly south along County Road 452 before parking at a nearby property, apparently “waiting, to likely pick up the suspects,” deputies wrote.
“Deputies on a perimeter could see four subjects running in the woods directly toward the Nissan Altima, but when they saw the presence of law enforcement, they began running away,” the affidavit states.
Despite the attempt, deputies were ultimately able to catch all four suspects, who were identified as follows:
- Gregory Jerone Hawkins II, 40
- Odaris Gene Wiggins, 21
- Lucien Byron, 24
- Cervantes Chandon Betts, 21
All four men face charges of armed robbery, grand theft of a firearm, three counts of aggravated assault, resisting an officer without violence, and three counts of hindering communications with law enforcement.
In addition, deputies said they arrested the driver of the Nissan Altima, who was identified as Betts’ girlfriend, 21-year-old Taniya J’nae Sanders.
According to investigators, the Altima had been linked to other robberies in Pinellas County, and over $1,400 in cash was found inside the vehicle.
However, Sanders denied knowing anything about the robbery, claiming she’d only been given an iPhone pin drop by her boyfriend at around midnight telling her to go to the location and swap vehicles, the affidavit shows.
Regardless, she now faces a charge of aiding and abetting.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office assisted in tracking down the suspects.