A Vanguard High School senior was arrested Thursday and charged with Armed Robbery.
Clarence Sylvester Cobarris, 18, was arrested by an Ocala Police Department detective, at 605 Northeast 27th Street, Ocala, at 1:41 a.m.
Police say they responded to the Kangaroo Gas Station, located at 909 Northeast 28th Street, after a store clerk called 911 and reported the robbery.
The store clerk told police that a black man wearing a black and gray hooded sweatshirt and an orange mask entered the store with a silver handgun and backpack.
The clerk said the man placed the backpack on the counter, pointed the gun at her, and told her to “put the money in the bag”. The clerk put $35.99 in the bag, along with a GPS tracking device.
Cobarris then fled the store.
Investigators tracked the GPS to the area of Northeast 27th Street and Northeast 6th Avenue. There, an OPD officer saw Cobarris standing near a garbage can on the north side of the road.
Cobarris saw the officer and attempted to walk toward an occupied vehicle, which was waiting with the passenger door open.
The officer then moved in on the four suspects and ordered them all on the ground.
During a “pat-down”, Cobarris was found to be in possession of the handgun used during the robbery. Additionally, Cobarris was in possession of the GPS device and some of the money that had been stolen.
Detectives said they also found clothing in the trash can where Cobarris had been standing. The clothing matched the description of the clothing warn by the robbery suspect.
At first, Cobarris told investigators that he was walking from home when he found the money on the side of the road. He denied knowing anything about the robbery, but said he knew of three juveniles who were planning to rob the store. However, Cobarris gave himself away when he inadvertently described the clothing the robber was wearing.
According to OPD, Cobarris later told them that he needed the money for his graduation cap and gown.
Cobarris is being held at the Marion County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
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