VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — An Osceola County man is facing multiple charges after investigators said he impersonated a deputy and robbed a Deltona couple Tuesday.
According to an arrest affidavit, the male victim said he had just pulled up to his home off Eldron Avenue just before 11 a.m. when a man wearing a mask dressed in a bulletproof vest, a badge, and carrying a rifle ordered him inside his home.
The victim told investigators that once inside the home, the man, later identified as 44-year-old Carmelo Cruz of Kissimmee, handcuffed both him and his wife and demanded money and guns.
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When the husband told Cruz he didn’t have any money, Cruz began ordering the couple around the home at gunpoint as he searched.
Deputies said the woman told them when Cruz set his rifle down on a table, she noticed it was not loaded.
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As Cruz was leaving, the woman slipped out of her handcuffs and began attacking Cruz as he stood in the driveway.
Investigators said Cruz then fled from the home but not before the victims were able to remove Cruz’s badge, phone, and mask before eventually fleeing the scene.
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Detectives said they identified Cruz after finding a utility bill and Delta boarding passes with his name on them, in addition to fingerprints.
Deputies later arrested Cruz and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, home invasion, false imprisonment, and impersonating a law enforcement officer.
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Cruz, already on probation for a previous crime, was booked into the Volusia County Jail on a $190,000 bond.
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