February 8, 2009
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

WOULD-BE ROBBER ARRESTED AFTER CLERK CALLS HIS BLUFF

A would-be robber was hauled off to jail on Saturday by Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies after a clerk at the Deltona Chevron on Deltona Boulevard called the suspect’s bluff.

The suspect came into the store shortly after 3:30 a.m., got two beers from the cooler and brought them to the counter. The clerk, however, told the man he couldn’t buy the beer because of state law that prohibits alcohol sales between 3 a.m.-7 a.m. After being told a second time that he couldn’t buy the beer, the suspect walked behind the counter, shoved the clerk and told him he would kill him if he didn’t turn over all of the money. To emphasize his point, the suspect put his hand under his sweatshirt as if to imply he had a gun. The clerk, however, refused to turn over the money, and the suspect shoved him one more time, then grabbed the two bottles of beer and walked out of the store.

Deputies arrived about three minutes after the clerk called 911 to find the suspect sitting on a bench outside the store with the two beers. When the first arriving deputy took 22-year-old Xavier Sierra of Deltona into custody, he tried to pull away from the officer and refused numerous commands to put his hands behind his back so he could be handcuffed. Sierra, who as it turns out didn’t have a weapon, was charged with robbery and resisting an officer without violence. Sierra was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on $5,500 bond.