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Temple Terrace teen a suspect in 4 robberies

By Times Staff Writer
Published January 21, 2005

TAMPA - A 19-year-old Temple Terrace man was jailed Thursday telling police he committed four armed robberies, Temple Terrace police said.

Mohamad Edad Anwar Mustafa of 6193 Rain Hollow Court was charged with two robberies that occurred between 4:30 and 7 a.m. in Temple Terrace.

Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives are investigating Mustafa in connection with two other robberies that occurred early Thursday morning along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

According to a Temple Terrace police report, a man dressed in black jeans and a black hooded sweat shirt walked into the Circle K at 5601 E Fowler Ave. at 4:47 a.m. He pulled out a gun and ordered the clerk to stuff a bag with money from the cash register, then ran off with the cash.

At 6:56 a.m., a man fitting the same description walked into the BP Station at 8421 N 56th St., again brandishing a gun as he told the clerk to stuff a bag with money, the report said. The robber left in a maroon van.

Within minutes, an officer stopped the van after seeing it speed north on N 56th Street near Temple Heights Road. The driver was Mustafa, Temple Terrace police said.

The clerk identified Mustafa as the robber, and he was charged with two counts of armed robbery. Investigators later discovered the gun used in the robberies was a BB gun, jail records said.

Investigators said Mustafa admitted to the two Temple Terrace robberies and two along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. He was being held in the county jail. Bail was set at $30,250.

[Last modified January 21, 2005, 00:29:18]