Three are charged after encounters with mall workers, a shopper, a mother and detectives.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published June 25, 2003
LARGO - Detectives have rounded up three smash-and-grab robbery suspects with a little help from good Samaritans, an alert St. Petersburg patrol officer and one of the suspect's mothers.
Wielding hammers, two men entered the Crossroads Mall in Largo Friday afternoon while a third man waited in a getaway car. They walked up to a jewelry kiosk in the mall and began smashing the glass cases and reaching inside for jewelry, Largo police said.
When the female clerk tried to stop them, both swung their hammers at her head, barely missing her, said Largo police Detective Joe Coyle.
"They actually took a swing at her, both of them did, to the point that she fell backward and hit her arm," Coyle said. "If they had hit her, she would be dead."
The pair then took off with $4,000 in jewelry.
Two employees working in a beauty supply shop next door gave chase, as did mall security. A 17-year-old shopper in the parking lot stepped in front of one of the suspects and told him to hand over the jewelry. The robber did as told before escaping in the getaway car with the driver.
The other robber gave up and was held by his pursuers. Police arrived shortly and took him into custody. All the jewelry was recovered, Coyle said.
Police charged Charles Deangelo Thomas, 18, of St. Petersburg, with armed robbery. He told detectives the first names of his accomplices: Eddie and Alonzo.
On Monday, police issued an areawide alert urging police to watch out for the getaway car, a blue four-door Saturn.
A St. Petersburg police officer found the car in front of a home, then learned through a computer check that a man named Eddie Dominguez lived there. The car belongs to his grandmother.
Further investigation revealed that Dominguez associated with a man named Alonzo Hearns.
About 4:30 p.m. Monday, Coyle received a phone call from Dominguez. "I heard you're looking for me," he told the detective. Coyle said he was.
Dominguez, 18, said he wanted to turn himself in but couldn't do so until later. Coyle said he would wait. About 6:45 p.m., Dominguez pulled into the police station with his mother and sister. They snapped photographs of each other embracing in the parking lot before Dominguez turned himself in and admitted to the robbery, Coyle said.
Coyle and Detective Mark Dakoski then went looking for Hearns. They found his mother and asked where he lived. She led the two investigators Tuesday to an apartment complex where his girlfriend was living.
As the detectives stood to the side, Hearns' mother knocked on the door. Anyone looking through the peephole could see only her, Coyle said.
Then Hearns opened the door. His mother stormed in and demanded he admit what he had done. Hearns, 19, then acknowledged the Friday robbery and said he had committed another smash-and-grab at the same mall kiosk in May, Coyle said. Fifteen pieces of gold, worth about $8,800, were stolen then.
Hearns was charged Tuesday with armed robbery and retail theft. Dominguez and Thomas were charged with single counts of armed robbery. All three were held at the Pinellas County Jail, each in lieu of at least $50,000 bail.
