Arrest made in Pompano Beach Farm Store robbery
Posted June 24 2003, 1:10 PM EDT
A fast acting clerk, concerned citizens and an observant Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy are credited with the arrest of an armed suspect, minutes after a Pompano Beach Farm Store was held up Monday evening. Here is what BSO Public Information Officer Jim Leljedal said happened during the armed robbery which occurred at about 7 p.m., when a man entered the 1621 South Cypress Road convenience store:
A 24-year-old clerk was manning the store when the suspect, Dean Lucas, 32, entered, flashed a knife tucked in his waistband, started shouting, then went to the cash register and began helping himself to $54 in small bills.
After the robbery, the clerk ran from the store to the American Kempo Karate Institute, located next door, looking for help. Two men there ran outside and saw Lucas entering a white Ford Explorer. They got the tag number and dialed 911. A BSO dispatcher immediately broadcast a BOLO for the vehicle.
BSO Detective Ben Koos, driving an unmarked car, saw the Explorer traveling eastbound on McNab Road and followed it, notifying dispatch along the way. Several marked units caught up with the Explorer and signaled for the suspect to stop, but he ignored them and entered southbound I-95 at Cypress Creek Road. The suspect then exited at Sunrise Boulevard. Traffic was backed up on the exit ramp, so Lucas bailed out of the vehicle and ran on foot. Deputies took him into custody, without incident, under the Sunrise Boulevard overpass.
The store clerk and one of the karate institute witnesses positively identified Lucas as the armed robber. He later gave a statement admitting that he stole the money, which was recovered. Lucas was charged with armed robbery, aggravated fleeing, resisting arrest without violence, and an active warrant for cocaine possession and was booked at BSO’s main jail, where he is being held without bond.
Lucas has been arrested six times in the past three years on charges including battery, assault, aggravated assault, burglary, criminal mischief, false imprisonment and grand theft.