Escaped Convicts Detained, Wanted in Seffner Store Clerk's Beating

Two escaped convicts from Wisconsin, apprehended in Broward County, are believed to be responsible for the brutal beating of a 71-year-old convenience store clerk in Seffner.

Detectives from the Hillsboorugh County Sheriff's Office drove overnight to Broward County to see if the escapees, James Newman and James Misleveck, matched the descriptions of the men caught beating Hasimbhai Indawala on surveillance video in Seffner on July 22.

Five days earlier, Newman, 29, and Misleveck, 18, had escaped from a Wisconsin correctional facility, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office report. Newman was serving three years for firing a weapon into his girlfriend's home. Mislevek was serving three years for auto theft and arson.

A day later, on July 18, the convicts reportedly kidnapped a woman in Wisconsin, outside Ho-Chunk Casino in Black River Falls, then released her unharmed after stealing her car and $500.

Making their way to the Greater Brandon area, Newman and Mislevek reportedly attacked Indawala, the 71-year-old convenience store clerk, at the U.S. 92 Convenience Store at 102 West U.S. Highway 92 and Kings Avenue in Seffner.

Indawala was thrown to the floor after he was forced to open the cash register behind the counter, according to a video of the crime posted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The two men captured on video are seen kicking and striking Indawala repeatedly. One man is seen holding a knife.

The assailants reportedly then left the store and fled in an unkown direction, riding in a dark-colored, older model, four-door sedan, believed to be a Dodge or Chrysler.

Three days later, on July 25, Seminole Tribe Police officers at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino reportedly spotted two men in a stolen Chrysler Concorde. A chase ensued, involving also the Broward County Sheriff's Office and Hollywood Police, and when it ran its course, "the fugitives ran and were apprehended," according to the Hillsborough report.

Later that night, Hillsborough detectives reportedly learned that the men arrested in Broward County "matched the description of the indivdiuals wanted in connected with robbery and [Indawala's] brutal beating."

Subsequently, that determination was made and charges are pending, according to the report. Newman and Mislevek, who were being detained in the Broward County Jail, are said to be facing charges of armed robbery and battery on the elderly.