Police ID disguised man suspected of robbery
Lauderdale man found near bushes holding 2-way radio.
PORT ST. LUCIE — A 29-yearold Fort Lauderdale man has been identified as one of three men suspected in a brazen armed robbery Thursday morning at a Port St. Lucie jewelry store.
Officers arrested Jerome Simmons after finding him crawling out of the bushes near a Port St. Lucie hospital.
Simmons, who was only wearing boxer shorts at the t i me, t ol d of f i c e r s t hre e unidentified women robbed him and took his clothing, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e p o l i c e arrest report made public Friday.
Shortly after his arrest, officers found a wig, a pink sweatshirt and pink pair of exercise pants hidden under a car parked about 100 feet away, the report said.
Police continue to search for at least two other men, including one who allegedly abducted four people in Port St. Lucie and forced them to drive him to Fort Lauderdale.
The robbers wore wigs and what appeared to be women’s clothing as they broke into the LSO Jewelers and repair store on Southwest St. Lucie West Boulevard at about 9 a.m. Thursday, the report said.
A store surveillance video shows three people in black wigs enter a jewelry store.
Two of the men are seen pull i ng out g uns a s t hey climbed over the counter a n d move d t wo f e ma l e store employees to a back room.
According to the report, the men filled bags with var- ious items from the store. Simmons noticed that one of the employees was wearing a Rolex watch and removed it from her wrist.
The suspec ts ran out a back door and in the direction of the Martin Memorial Hospital emergency center.
An officer responding to that location encountered Simmons and ordered him to get on the ground, police said.
Simmons was a carrying a two-way radio, the report said.
The jewelry store employees told officers the three men used two-way radios to communicate with someone outside the store, possibly a getaway driver.
The robbery prompted pol i c e to l ock down f ive schools in the area temporarily.