Ankle monitor helps Coral Springs police identify suspect in FedEx package robbery
Coral Springs, Florida – An ankle monitor helped Coral Springs police identify an 18-year-old suspect after a FedEx driver reported that two men claimed a package and one forcibly took it from her delivery van.
Police arrested Omani Prince, of Tamarac, on October 9, one day after the reported robbery on Northwest 106th Drive. He faces charges of robbery and burglary with battery, according to a Broward County court affidavit.
Investigators say Prince was the man who stood near the front of the van while the other man struggled with the driver over the package. Both men then fled in a Honda Accord, police said.
The encounter began after the driver parked across the street from the delivery address. A man wearing a red sweatshirt approached from the Honda and told her the package belonged to him.
The driver refused to hand it over because the name on the package did not match his claim. She instead went to the home, where a man watching the property for his brother told her that no delivery was expected.
Prince then approached wearing a black sweatshirt and also claimed the package, according to police. The driver again held onto it and returned to her van to take it back.
Police said the man in red followed her inside the vehicle and grabbed for the package. During the struggle, both he and the driver fell out of the van. He then pulled the delivery from her hands.
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Prince watched from the front of the vehicle before leaving with the other man in the Honda, investigators allege. A camera inside the FedEx van recorded the robbery.
Identifying the second man involved several steps. The driver was unable to identify Prince in two photo lineups, but she remembered that the man wearing the black sweatshirt had an ankle monitor.
That detail gave investigators another way to examine his movements. Police used the monitor’s location data along with license plate cameras to track Prince and the Honda along Sample Road and Atlantic Boulevard.
Investigators also reviewed Ring doorbell footage. Prince had previously lived on the street, and the homeowner recognized him in that recording, police said.
Although the driver had not identified Prince in the photo lineups, police said she identified him in the video. The investigation therefore drew on both witness accounts and recordings, along with the location information from the ankle monitor and license plate cameras.
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Prince was already awaiting trial on earlier charges of burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief when he was arrested in connection with the package robbery. Those charges are separate from the allegations involving the FedEx delivery.
He remains in Broward County Main Jail. The affidavit describes the police account of the incident, and the charges against him are allegations.
Police have not publicly identified the man in the red sweatshirt, whom they describe as the person who entered the van and took the package from the driver. They also have not said whether that man has been arrested.
