Resident charged with robbing convenience store
A Cape Coral man armed with a knife robbed a convenience store early Saturday morning but was later caught, according to police.
Robert Ross Heudorf, 30, of 4518 S.E. Sixth Court, was arrested and charged with one count of robbery with a weapon. He remained in custody at the Lee County Jail on no bond as of Monday, according to booking records.
At 3:40 a.m. Saturday, Cape police responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Circle K, at 533 Cape Coral Parkway, E. A man in a hooded sweatshirt with a large knife threatened the clerk and demanded money.
The clerk gave the man about $50, according to police officials.
The man fled the store, got into a white pickup truck and drove away.
Within minutes, officers conducted a traffic stop on a white pickup truck spotted in the area. The clerk was brought to the scene, but he was unable to identify the driver – Heudorf – as the robber, according to officials.
He was not wearing the same sweatshirt and red shorts as the robber.
Heudorf was released from the traffic stop and was free to go.
Officers were able to check the surveillance video of the robbery and noted that the robber was wearing distinct white-colored sandals. Officers who had pulled over Heudorf remembered that he was wearing district white sandals.
Officers went to Heudorf’s residence and were invited in by his parents.
Once inside, police found a sweatshirt and red shorts identical to the ones worn by the robber on the floor of Heudorf’s bedroom, police reported. The shorts even had the same stain on one leg as the ones worn by the robber.
Officers also reportedly found a knife like the one used in the robbery.
Heudorf was taken into custody. While en route to the jail, he reportedly told officers that millions of people in Cape Coral have the exact same clothes.
“This was great teamwork between the officers and supervisors of the 4th Platoon, as well as our Detective Bureau,” Lt. Tony Sizemore, the spokesman for the Cape police, reported Monday in a prepared statement.
“A quick response to the area, coupled with patience in putting the pieces of evidence together, is what solved this violent crime,” he continued.
Heudorf has a court date scheduled for Dec. 19.