MAN ARRESTED IN DELTONA GROCERY STORE PHARMACY ROBBERY

A 29-year-old Deltona man – who later told Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies that he needed to feed a drug habit – robbed a grocery store pharmacy Thursday night. However, alert citizens tracked Bradley Robertson’s getaway vehicle to a nearby home where deputies found and arrested him just a little more than an hour after the robbery. No weapon was seen during the robbery and no one was injured.

Deputies responded to the Winn-Dixie, 2880 Howland Blvd., Deltona, at approximately 6:23 p.m. in response to a 911 call that a man had robbed the store’s pharmacy. The pharmacy employees reported that a man wearing sunglasses and a hoodie sweatshirt with the hood pulled close over the head and face walked up to the counter and demanded some drugs, including Oxycontin. The victims handed over two bottles containing Oxycodone pills, and the man then fled. But one of the employees ran outside after the man and saw him get into a blue SUV and speed away. Meanwhile, a witness driving through the parking lot saw the foot chase and when the SUV, with its hatchback door wide open, sped recklessly from the parking lot, he decided to follow it. About a mile from the store, the car pulled into the driveway of 2980 Little Court. The witness then drove back to the store to tell deputies what he saw.

Deputies surrounded the Little Court home and got Robertson to step outside without incident. When he was searched, he was found to have a pocket knife on him. During a later interview, Robertson admitted to robbing the store because he had been addicted to the drugs for about seven years and he needed the stolen pills to feed his habit. He said that when deputies showed up at the house, he swallowed some pills, flushed others down the toilet and hid the bottles. When asked why the hatchback door on the SUV was open when he fled, he said he did that to hide the license plate, and that he had borrowed the car from a friend. Robertson was charged with robbery with a weapon, trafficking, and tampering with evidence. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach with $51,000 bond.