June 8 – Dubious Crime Planning Lands Florida Man and Young Accomplice in Jail

Glaring omissions made by a 24-year-old Florida man while planning to break into a convenience store in Marion County caused him to get arrested by deputies in November 2023. Juan Ramirez thought he had planned a solid heist when he recruited a 14-year-old boy to help him break into a Circle K attached to a gas station in Reddick. He “cased the joint” and determined that it invariably closed for a few hours on Sunday nights; plus, he thought it would be easy to break the glass door with a couple of well-thrown rocks.

According to a NewsRadio WFLA report, Ramirez and his accomplice took turns throwing fist-sized rocks at the glass door. They spent several minutes doing this; video footage from the surveillance camera connected to a real-time monitoring system showed Ramirez and the boy pausing to point at the camera lens above before resuming their futile rock-throwing.

Specialists from the security firm monitoring the Circle K store during the few hours it was closed notified the Marion County Sheriff’s Department about the situation unfolding at the gas station. The would-be burglars barely cracked the glass before their arrest. When the boy was interrogated with a legal guardian present, he confessed that Ramirez was sure rocks would break the glass door; after all, they had practiced by throwing rocks at the windows of an abandoned home. Florida building codes for retail stores require the installation of doors made of impact-resistant glass, the kind that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

See Also:

• Florida Man Stories – June 7
• Florida Man Chronicle – June 6
• Florida Man Report – June 5

June 8 – Amazon Delivery Drivers Face Increased Risk of “Florida Man Attacks”

The Sanford Police Department issued a bulletin requesting assistance from residents of Seminole County in identifying a Florida man who held an Amazon delivery truck driver at knifepoint. According to a news report broadcast by FOX 35 of Orlando, the driver was driving down a commercial district of Sanford when a man wearing a green t-shirt and dark jeans jumped on the sidestep of the truck on the driver’s side while it was still moving.

The driver slowed down for a stop sign as the suspect told him to continue driving and take him to an unknown address. The man then reached inside the cabin and pressed a knife against the driver’s back until the Amazon truck reached the stop sign. At this point, the attacker jumped off and went around as he tried to enter from the passenger side, but the driver sped off quickly.

Unfortunately for Amazon delivery drivers in the Sunshine State, the number of robbery and assault incidents perpetrated against them has been rising in recent years. In January 2023, two Florida men were arrested in Orange County after police officers identified them from a dashcam video that showed the armed robbery of an Amazon driver. In that instance, the thieves entered the truck’s rear cargo space while the driver was making deliveries at an apartment complex; they were armed and pressed a gun against the driver’s neck.

“Florida man attacks” don’t always target Amazon drivers. In January 2022, an armed suspect wearing a jacket emblazoned with a large Amazon logo robbed a Jacksonville Beach woman at gunpoint. Two years later, a Florida man working as a part-time Amazon delivery driver was arrested for stealing a French bulldog after dropping off packages in an upscale Spring Hill neighborhood.