Suspect held in armed robbery at Boca hotel
Cash, jewelry, phone were taken from two women in March.
A Fort Lauderdale man was taken to Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday in connection with an armed robbery in March at a Boca Raton hotel.
Henry Mitchell, 30, faces charges of robbery with a firearm, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He remains jailed on no bond, according to arrest records.
On March 23, Boca Raton police responded to the Marriott hotel in Town Center Circle off South Military Trail around 11:30 p.m. after two women reported they were robbed in their room by a man wearing dark clothing, a mask and gloves.
One of the women told officers that someone knocked on the door and, when she answered, the man forced himself into the room. He pulled a handgun, demanded cash and other belongings, and screamed at the women to disrobe.
Approximately $200 in cash, a Chanel purse and an iPhone were stolen, along with a Michael Kors watch, diamond ring, white necklace and Cartier watch, according to the police report.
Before the man left the room, he took the women’s car keys, unplugged the hotel phone and told them not to call 911 “or he would kill them,” the police report states.
Police were able to use iPhone tracker to locate the stolen iPhone at an Extended Stay Hotel in Pompano Beach. Officers arrived at the hotel around midnight and located Mitchell with Wendy Gibbons, who was wearing the Cartier watch that belonged to one of the women.
When officers approached Mitchell, they found more of the women’s stolen jewelry in his pocket. Mitchell told officers that the jewelry “was given to him by a friend,” the police report states.
He also told police he was homeless and living with Gibbons in a white Chevrolet.
Police took Mitchell to the Broward County Jail. On Friday, a Palm Beach County judge ordered him held without bond. He has a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 30.
According to the Broward Sheriff ’s Office, Mitchell was convicted in 2011 of robbery with a firearm in Fort Lauderdale and was jailed until August 2015.