By: Sharon Aron Baron

Two residents had items snatched from their hands and a pizza delivery man was held up in a vacant apartment. These are just a few cases where the culprits have not been caught and police need your help finding them.

Man Snatches Woman’s Purse

The first incident happened on March 5, when the police responded to a call at the Shell Gas Station at 8150 Sample Road in response to a woman, Carla Rondon, who stated that a suspect stole her purse.

Rondon told police she was walking northbound on the sidewalk on Riverside Drive next to the Shell Station when she saw an unknown black male in a white shirt riding a bicycle southbound towards her on the sidewalk. As she moved to the side to let him pass, the suspect reached out and grabbed the purse from her right shoulder as he passed her on the bike. The suspect said nothing and he made no physical contact with her. She immediately ran to the gas station and used her cell phone to call police, however, was unable to provide any description of the suspect other than he was a black male 17-29 years old, with a white shirt. She said that the only thing that was stolen was a small blue leather purse and her Venezuelan passport valued at $300.

Men Steal 12 Year-Old’s IPhone from her Hands

A second incident happened that same day at Turtle Run Park at 6400 Wiles Road where the victim, age 12, told Coral Springs Police that she was at the park with her friends when she noticed five black males watching her. The victim said that the males approached her and her friend and began a conversation. She said that one of the males suddenly and forcefully snatched her iPhone 6 from her hand and that all five males ran eastbound through the neighboring apartment complex and out of sight.

The victim was only able to give minor descriptions of two of the suspects. All of the suspects looked young she told police. One of the suspects was wearing camo pants and a gray shirt. Another male was wearing a white shirt and black pants and shiny boots. The victim told police that the male with the shiny boots had an Asian style tattoo on his right shoulder.

The victim’s iPhone had a tracking app but the phone was already turned off and they were unable to locate it. Value $300.

Papa John’s Pizza Man Robbed at Gunpoint

On March 9, police responded to a robbery by a Papa John’s Delivery Associate Dan Ruda who delivered eight pizzas to the Groves Apartment at 3681 Turtle Run Blvd. Ruda said that upon his arrival, he walked to the door of an apartment and attempted to make contact with the customers, knocking several times but no one answered. At this point, two males approached him from behind shouting “don’t look, don’t look” Ruda said that when he attempted to look, one of the males kept pushing his face in the opposite direction. He said that one of the males stated “go inside” as he was holding and displaying a black or gray pistol with his hands. Ruda said he was unsure of the color but he knew it was a handgun.

He complied and walked inside of what appeared to be a vacant apartment where he was cornered and asked if he had any money. Ruda said that he reached into his pocket and handed the suspects $75. The suspects kept reiterating to “not look” and he heard them open a rear sliding door. He last observed them run out of the apartment with two bags containing eight pizzas and the $75. Total stolen value was $172.34.

Ruda said he was scared after the incident and decided to go back to work before contacting police. He said he didn’t get a good look at the men, but described one of the males as a tall man between 5’11 to 6’01 wearing a dark sweatshirt, possibly blue, dark gloves and long pants. The tall male was wearing a gray mask and described it as a “halloween looking mask” “creepy, zombie looking.” He stated that he was also wearing a beanie hat on top of the mask and was unable to see his face or skin color but advised that he believed that he was a black male based on his speech. Ruda stated that the tall male was the one that opened the door to the apartment before they made him go in.

The second male was described as short between 5’06 to 5’08 and stated that he was unable to look at him, but he did see him wearing a gray hoodie. He said that the short male was the one that displayed the handgun and also kept hitting him in the face, possibly open-handed, so he wouldn’t look. Ruda stated that he believed that the short male was Hispanic based on his speech.

The property manager stated that there should have not been anyone in the apartment at the time as the apartment was vacant.

If you have any information about any of the cases, you are urged to contact Coral Springs Police at 954-344-1800 or CrimeTips Line at 954-227-2677.

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Sharon Aron Baron

Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.