Man confesses to robberies of fast food stores, police say

A fingerprint and surveillance video placed a North Lauderdale man inside a stolen car that was used during two armed robberies, and Davie police allege that he confessed to those crimes, court documents show.

On Dec. 20 at about 9 p.m., a man was robbed at gunpoint of his wallet and credit cards while outside a Fort Lauderdale massage business. The robber also stole the man’s black 2009 Lexus ES 350 sedan, Fort Lauderdale police say.

The Lexus was driven away from 1300 SE 17th St. and about a half-hour later, was seen at a Dunkin Donuts store in Davie.

A clerk in the donut shop told police a gunman, wearing a hooded sweater with a scarf over his face, jumped over the counter of the store at 5021 S. State Road 7. He warned her not to set off an alarm and took an undisclosed amount of money from the register, an arrest report said.

Minutes later, the same disguised gunman was recorded on surveillance video driving the Lexus and holding up a Subway store, at 6775 Stirling Road, Davie police say.

“I’m robbing the store, not you,” the gunman allegedly told that clerk before an unknown amount of cash was taken. He warned the clerk, “If you call the police I will come back and end you,” according to an arrest report.

The Lexus was later seen in Fort Lauderdale at about 2 a.m. on Dec. 21. It sped away from officers while near Northwest Sixth Street and Northwest 13th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale police said.

The car was found parked a short time later in the 1600 block of Northwest Seventh Court, according to police.

On Dec. 27, Fort Lauderdale police arrested De Andre Darryl Smith, 22, on suspicion of shoplifting at a Marshalls store in the Coral Ridge Mall, at 3120 N. Federal Highway.

Smith had swapped old shoes for new ones, walked out without paying for the footwear and other items totaling $104.96 and ran away but was caught nearby, police said.

That same day, a fingerprint taken from inside the Lexus matched Smith’s prints, an arrest report said. During a meeting in jail with Davie and Fort Lauderdale detectives, Smith allegedly confessed to the armed robberies of the Davie businesses as well as to stealing the Lexus.

Smith also told the detectives he would tell them everything about the incidents if he could serve any potential jail time in Florida rather than in Texas, where he is being sought in relation to a felony charge, according to an arrest report and court testimony.

Citing the Texas case during a hearing Thursday, Broward County Judge Kim Theresa Mollica ordered Smith held without bond.

On Saturday, Broward County Judge Carlos Rebollo ordered Smith held without bond on two counts of robbery with a firearm that were filed by Davie police.

Fort Lauderdale police said Tuesday charges are pending against Smith in the Dec. 20 robbery incident.