‘Publix techie robber’ finally caught, stole more than $9,000 from four stores
A gun, a cellphone and a phrase is all a lone female robber needed to plunder four Publixes and a gas station, all while evading police for more than a month.
“This is a robbery. Put all the money from the register inside a bag. Don’t call the manager or the police. I have a gun.”
Typed on a smartphone and shown to a clerk, this did the trick for three Publixes. But for the two other stores, she needed a stronger inducement: a gun.
But her luck ran out, as a coincidence led police to a string of clues that ended with her capture.
Ericka Long’s robbery spree started on Sept. 30. A Publix at 9510 SW 160th St. was the first to fall victim to Long, the FBI said.
On Oct. 11, Long, 28, robbed a clerk at the Publix at 13735 SW 152nd St. On Oct. 20, another clerk was robbed at the Publix Supermarket at 11750 SW 104th St.
All Long had to do was show the clerks the phrase and they’d open their registers, the FBI said. She collected $7,958.68.
After three robberies that followed closely in time, Long went underground. Authorities couldn’t find her and she put the brakes on her spree, at least for a while.
Four days after her last robbery, police searched a home, for an unrelated reason, when they caught a glimpse of the car Long used during the Oct. 20 robbery, the FBI said.
But police didn’t watch the car to find the driver until two weeks later. The FBI didn’t specify why this was, but during the time officers waited, Long went out and robbed two more stores.
On Nov. 17, Long went into a Mobil Gas station, at 24791 Krome Avenue, and pulled a gun on two employees, the FBI said. She demanded the money from the register and safe, but one of the employees told her they didn’t have the key. So, she left the Mobile empty-handed.
Her workday wasn’t over.
Two hours later, Long went into a Publix Supermarket at 9041 SW 107th Avenue, the FBI said. She walked up to the customer service desk and showed the clerk a text message that read, “This is a robbery, give me all your money, I have a gun.”
This time, Long didn’t let the text do all the talking. She pulled out a gun and said, “This is not a joke.”
She walked out of the grocery store with $1,300.
The next day, authorities began surveying the area where they had seen Long’s car back in October and found it. Inside, Long was driving with an ankle-bracelet. She was on probation for a previous criminal charge.
The monitoring device showed Long had been at the locations of all the recent robberies. And she acknowledged committing them, authorities said. Long was arrested by Miami-Dade police and FBI.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "‘Publix techie robber’ finally caught, stole more than $$9,000 from four stores."
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)