Bushnell, FL – A pair of unusual sneakers helps deputies arrest a Sumter County man for robbing a fast food restaurant near DeLand earlier this month.
36-year-old Jermaine Simmons of Bushnell was arrested on Thursday by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office for the October 9th armed robbery of the McDonald’s at 1075 Williamsburg Place.
Volusia County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Gary Davidson says Simmons and another man – 34-year-old Henry Strong of Ocala – had a gun and a hammer when they broke through the front doors of the closed restaurant around 4:45am that morning.
“Both suspects had their faces concealed and ordered the [3] workers not to move,” Davidson said later on that day. “[The employees] said the suspects were in and out in a matter of seconds and were last seen on foot in the parking lot.”
VCSO deputies found Strong around an hour later driving a black Hyundai in the Trails West subdivision and took him into custody.
A passenger in that vehicle managed to get away from deputies that day. It took 2 weeks and some help from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to identify Simmons as that passenger, per Davidson.
“Investigators recovered a total of 4 cell phones during the investigation into the robbery,” Davidson said on Thursday. “One of them contained selfie pictures of Simmons wearing the exact same sneakers as the ones on the surveillance video inside the McDonald’s that captured images of the robbers.”
Those sneakers – which feature reddish-orange shoelaces – helped VCSO get an arrest warrant charging Simmons with armed robbery. Investigators then relied on SCSO deputies to track him down, according to Davidson.
“Sumter County deputies had Simmons under surveillance shortly after 10am on Thursday when he drove to a McDonald’s in Bushnell,” Davidson noted. “Deputies surrounded his SUV in the drive-thru lane, but Simmons – wearing those same sneakers – fled the scene, leaving a 1-year-old child in the vehicle.”
Simmons was caught soon afterward and charged with child neglect, resisting an officer without violence and driving with a suspended license.
Simmons is held without bond at the Sumter County Jail. It’s unclear at this point when he’ll be extradited to Volusia County Jail.
Strong is still in custody at VCJ after he was also denied bond.
None of the employees were hurt, according to VCSO.
Jermaine Simmons (photo courtesy Sumter County Jail)
Henry Strong (mugshot courtesy Volusia County Jail)
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