Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Suspects held in vending machine, cigarette capers

The "Cigarette Robber" struck four times and the other man hit a cleaners, authorities say.

By Times Staff Writer
Published January 8, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Anthony D. Carvajal, 37, is being held in lieu of $4,250 bail. Robert E. Bowyer Jr., 43, is being held in lieu of $70,000 bail in four robberies.

One thief was said to favor Marlboro Red 100s. Investigators said the other had a weakness for busting open vending machines.

But both were caught Monday with help from tipsters, according to authorities.

In one set of cases, detectives picked up transient Robert Eugene Bowyer Jr., 43, at the Super 8 Motel at 22950 U.S. 19 N in unincorporated Clearwater.

They said he is the so-called "Cigarette Robber."

Four times from Dec. 12 to Dec. 28, authorities said, Bowyer demanded cartons of Marlboro Red 100s before suggesting to store employees that he had a gun or lifting his shirt to show the butt of a pistol tucked into his waistband.

Bowyer then grabbed the cigarettes and cash from the register before running out. The robberies took place at a gas station and pharmacies in Clearwater, Safety Harbor and Dunedin, according to Pinellas County sheriff's officials and Clearwater police.

Bowyer was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on five robbery related charges and was being held in lieu of $70,000 bail.

In an unrelated case, Pinellas sheriff's officials said they were charging Anthony D. Carvajal, 37, of 7010 N Oregon Ave., Tampa, with cutting or prying the locks off a Ms. Pac Man video game as well as from a laundry bag vending machine and stealing money from the Oldsmar Cleaners and Laundry on Tampa Road on Christmas Day.

Carvajal had been arrested by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies on a separate incident and was being held Monday at a Hillsborough County jail in lieu of $4,250 bail.

In addition to the media coverage, sheriff's officials said fingerprints helped identify Carvajal as a suspect in the Oldsmar case. Pinellas officials said they were charging him with one count each of felony criminal mischief, tampering with a coin-operated machine and grand theft.

[Last modified January 7, 2008, 21:31:30]