WILTON, MANORS, FL – Around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 19, Tropics Restaurant on the corner of N.E. 20 Street and Wilton Drive was robbed.
At press time, details were very sketchy but according to Alesia Furdon, Public Information Officer for the Wilton Manors Police Department, two males entered the restaurant, demanded money and left once they received the cash. No one is yet in custody as police are still working this case.
TAMARAC, FL – Former Florida Agenda/Mark Magazine advertising salesperson, Rob Kohl, 34, of Oakland Park, is in the Broward County Jail once again. This time, Kohl has been charged with attempted strong-armed robbery and violation of probation.
Around 2:15 p.m. on August 18th, an employee at the TD Bank branch on Commercial Boulevard in Tamarac called to report a suspicious incident. A man handed a teller a note and a driver’s license. The note indicated that his daughter had been kidnapped and was going to be killed. It asked the teller what he should do. The startled teller handed the note and identification right back to the man and said she had no idea what he should do. He appeared to become nervous and left the bank. Witnesses said he left in a tan car, perhaps a Honda, with a yellow license plate that had blue letters.
As the investigation started, BSO Violent Crimes Unit detectives obtained surveillance images from the bank to identify the subject. News media reports generated an anonymous tip that was given to detectives Friday. Working the tip led them to Kohl. Friday afternoon, the detectives established surveillance on Kohl at his residence. Around 2:30 p.m. Friday, Kohl pulled up to his home in a tan Honda with New York license plates, identical to the description from witnesses in the TD Bank incident.
Detectives observed a gun and a note in plain view on the front seat of Kohl’s car. Kohl was detained for questioning and, during the course of the interview with detectives, admitted that he scoped out a bank in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and planned to rob it Friday.
By Bob Kecskemety
Kohl also told detectives he bought a toy gun and black spray paint to make the gun look authentic. The note recovered from Kohl’s car was a bank demand note. Kohl also admitted the concocted story about the kidnapping was a hoax.
He was booked into the BSO Main Jail. Detectives believe Kohl may have acted this way elsewhere. Anyone with similar information about Kohl should call BSO Det. Jonathan Lawrence at (954) 321-4200 or Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at (954) 493-TIPS.
Earlier this year, Kohl was charged with two counts of grand theft, one count of petty theft and one count of cashing a forged check.
By this time, Kohl had already left his employment at Florida Agenda and Mark Magazine.
On March 3rd, according to Chris Caputo, Kohl’s roommate, Caputo went online to check his bank account and noticed that a check had been written on his account for $600 and made out to Kohl. Caputo confronted Kohl concerning the check and Kohl denied any knowledge. Upon looking at the back of the check online, Caputo said that he noticed that it had been withdrawn through a bank in Texas. When Caputo contacted the bank, they told him the check was cashed through a Ft. Lauderdale check cashing store. Caputo then contacted the check cashing store which confirmed to Caputo that Kohl was a regular customer.
Caputo also claimed that Kohl had pawned a television set owned by Caputo without Caputo’s permission. Upon investigation, Wilton Manors police found out that there was already an arrest warrant pending on Kohl.
