BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A 33-year-old Palm Bay man was arrested after an alert grocery store manager called police after he said he recognized the man from surveillance video of a robbery last week.
The Aldi grocery store manager said he couldn’t forget the video posted on the Internet of his colleagues at the Rockledge store getting tied up by a robber with tape and zip ties on Aug. 1.
The suspect had a hat on and a cloth covering much of his face, but when a man with similar features walked into the Titusville store Thursday night, the manager called police.
Titusville police said Jeffrey Stanley tried to flee when they arrived, discarding his hat along the way. Police said they also saw a bulge under his shirt, which turned out to be a handgun. In Stanley’s pants, authorities said they found tape and zip ties similar to those used in the first robbery.
"It does sound like you had in mind to commit a robbery there,” Judge William McCluan said at Stanley’s hearing on Friday. “Normally, people don't carry zip ties and concealed firearms when they go, and tape, when they go grocery shopping.”
Stanley originally told Titusville police he was in the construction business and he was in the area looking to buy a television.
In the Rockledge robbery, police said Stanley hid in the store until it closed and then went after the employees with a gun in hand.
"He is facing a host of charges, and he will be sitting behind bars for some time," said Rockledge Officer Michael Cadore.
Police said without the attentive worker at the Titusville store, Stanley might have gotten away with a second robbery and still be on the run.
Stanley faces charges that include robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and carrying a concealed weapon.
WFTV
