FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — Flagler County deputies say they’ve caught one of the men believed to be involved in an armed robbery and assault at a jewelry store in Houston, Texas.
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According to the sheriff’s office, 35-year-old Asdrubal Rodriguez eventually confessed to committing the robbery, during which he pistol-whipped and used pepper spray on the victims before getting away with more than $1-million in cash and jewelry.
Deputies say they first learned the suspects may be in the area just before 6 p.m. Tuesday when technology from the sheriff’s office Real Time Crime Center alerted them to a black Chevrolet Tahoe in the area of Palm Coast Parkway and Interstate 95 with a Maryland tag that came back tied to suspects in the robbery from three days earlier.
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Deputies say they later found the Tahoe in a parking lot off Kings Way in Palm Coast, but the license plate was covered. They watched as two men loaded groceries into the SUV, then ran a stop sign as they left the parking lot.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies continued following the Tahoe as backup assembled for a “high-risk” traffic stop, as the robbery suspects had been labeled as “armed and dangerous.”
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Deputies stopped the suspect vehicle in the 1000 block of Palm coast Parkway NW and took Rodriguez and another man into custody.
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According to the sheriff’s office, a search of the Tahoe yielded nearly $80,000 in cash and gold jewelry believed to be stolen during the robbery in Houston.
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Deputies arrested Rodriguez for driving without a license and later served a warrant from Houston police charging him with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. He’s being held in the Flagler County jail on no bond.
“Another criminal made the fatal mistake of coming to Flagler County not knowing that we work with our partners across the country,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “Our Major Case detectives are working with detectives in Houston for his connection to the jewelry store heist.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the second man detained during the traffic stop was released from the scene with no charges.
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