Man threatens cash advance center with bomb after Lockheed Martin fires him

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County man is in jail Thursday for robbery after his father-in-law recognized him from a news report.

Mark Ceruto's father-in-law convinced him to turn himself in.

Investigators said he robbed an Advance America in Sanford Wednesday, the day before he attempted to rob an Advance America in Orange City.

His father-in-law said Ceruto was just trying to support his family.

He was a tech support analyst with Lockheed Martin and his father-in-law said he lost his job.

That was enough for him to go into an Advance America business with a small box, claiming it was a bomb to get money.

"I told him, 'Say goodbye to your wife and daughter because you're not coming back," Clyde Dupree, the suspect's father-in-law said.

Dupree said he was surprised to find out his son-in-law robbed a cash advance center in Orange City.

"I was watching the news and I looked and I said, 'That's got to be him.' And as the film went on, then they showed my car, a car like my car; so they convinced me that it was him," Dupree said.

Deputies said Ceruto passed a note to an employee at the business, where that employee said Ceruto asked for a job application a week ago.

He claimed he had a bomb and if he didn't get money he would blow it up.

The employee pulled the alarm, Ceruto took off; but his picture made the news. His father in law then confronted him about it.

"First of all, he wanted to deny it; but then after he saw the photo then he said, 'Yeah, that's me,'" Dupree said.

Investigators believe Ceruto also robbed an Advance America in Sanford the day before.

His father in law said he has a wife and a 4-year-old daughter and was trying to provide for them.

"The money that he got in Sanford, it's been recovered. He never spent it, but he got it. He was going to pay his rent with it," Dupree said.

WFTV