Teens Used Craigslist to Lure Robbery Victim, Deputies Say

RIVERVIEW, FL — Five teenagers from Riverview, Tampa and Apollo Beach face a number of criminal charges after Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies say they lured a man to a robbery using a Craigslist ad.

According to the sheriff’s office, the victim went to a home in the 11800 block of Lynmoor Drive in Riverview around 5 p.m. Sept. 11. The man thought he was responding to an ad for repair work, but found out otherwise when he arrived, the sheriff’s office said in an email to media.

When the victim went to the home, he was greeted by two girls and a boy, “who forcibly removed the victim’s wallet, car keys and cellular phone,” the email said. The teens and two others then took off in the victim’s Chevrolet Cruze, deputies noted.

While answering the man’s call for help, deputies spotted the stolen vehicle in the area of Big Bed Road and Interstate 75. A traffic stop was attempted, but the Cruze fled south on I-75, deputies say. The car exited at Sun City Center, but became disabled after hitting a raised concrete storm drain inside the Cypress Creek subdivision.

Three of the five people in the car took off on foot, deputies say, but were all brought into custody after a brief chase.

Those arrested included a 15-year-old girl from Riverview, a 16-year-old girl from Tampa and a 16-year-old boy from Apollo Beach. Two adults, Javier Lopez, 18, of Tampa and Keenard Malik Wells, 19, of Riverview, were also arrested. Charges for the younger teens, who are not being named by Patch because of their ages, include robbery, fleeing to elude, resisting arrest and grand theft motor vehicle.

The two adults face the following charges:

• Lopez – trespass in an unoccupied structure or conveyance, resisting arrest without violence, violation of probation on a third-degree grand theft charge
• Wells – trespass in an unoccupied structure or conveyance

Photo courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office