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Suspect in robbery at diner identified
By SUZANNAH GONZALES, Times Staff Writer
HERNANDO -- A few weeks before Sabina Hugel was robbed at her Hernando diner, a former occasional employee named Barbara stopped by the restaurant. "Oh hi, I just wanted to say hello. And I wanted to say bye because I'm leaving town," Hugel remembers her saying. That was the last time Hugel spoke to Barbara. But in recent weeks, Hugel heard about her again, when authorities said they suspected Barbara's boyfriend from Lake County, Jayson Arron Colvin, was the man who held Hugel at gunpoint Feb. 21 before the Hernando Diner and Ice Cream Shop at U.S. 41 and County Road 486 opened for business. Officials now say they are convinced that Colvin, 21, was the man who pried open a door and was waiting in the diner when Hugel arrived at 6:50 a.m. Wearing a dark-colored knit hat and clothing, Colvin pointed a gun at her, took her Gucci wallet holding $300 cash, as well as her Nextel cell phone and an AT&T cordless phone that was in the restaurant, then locked her inside an office, authorities and Hugel said. The Sheriff's Office announced Friday that a warrant has been issued for Colvin's arrest. On Friday, he was being held without bail on unrelated charges at the Lake County jail. Initially, authorities from the Citrus County Sheriff's Office had no names of a suspect -- only a description provided by Hugel. But a few days later, on Feb. 25, sheriff's detectives received a call from the Lady Lake Police Department. They learned a witness had come forward with information about a robbery Colvin allegedly said he had committed in Hernando. "That really broke the case there," said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gail Tierney. The witness, an acquaintence of Colvin's, decided to contact local police after seeing a photograph of Colvin in a Lake County newspaper. Lake deputies arrested Colvin on Feb. 24 and charged him with three counts of grand theft auto, as well as fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, among other charges, Citrus sheriff's officials said. Interviews with the witness and Colvin's girlfriend -- the former, occasional worker at the diner -- led Citrus detectives to identify Colvin as a main suspect. The girlfriend, also of Lake County and whom authorities would not identify, told Citrus detectives that she and Colvin had talked about the best way to rob the diner, but claimed she did not know Colvin committed the crime. Hugel didn't know Barbara very well; she couldn't recall her last name. Barbara didn't work at the diner often, only sometimes to fill in, last minute, for employees, Hugel said. Lake County deputies also found a handgun, burglary tools, stocking cap and other clothing items matching Hugel's description in the stolen vehicle he was driving. Hugel told detectives she had seen a black or dark-colored sedan leaving the diner's parking lot after the robbery, but was not sure if it was connected with the incident. Colvin drove a black Mercury Marauder, reported stolen, when Lake County deputies arrested Colvin. -- Suzannah Gonzales can be reached at 860-7312 or sgonzales@sptimes.com.
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