Two arrested following string of video casino armed robberies in Lee County
Two men are in custody following a string of robberies this week at video casinos across Lee County.
Around 10:52 a.m. Thursday, Cape Coral officers responded to a report of an armed robbery at the White Sands Arcade on Del Prado Boulevard. Two men, one armed with a handgun, held up the business and fled with about $2,500 in a pillowcase before officers arrived, police said.
An employee at the Coral Palace Arcade on Cape Coral Parkway East also told police that two masked men matching the same description showed up in the arcade's parking lot around 10:30 a.m., but left after the employee locked the doors.
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Surveillance video from outside the Coral Palace helped Cape Coral police get a description of the men's vehicle. Following an investigation with the Lee County Sheriff's Office and the Fort Myers Police Department, authorities arrested Cape Coral residents Jwyanza Chito, 34, and Lenny Myers, 45, on charges of robbery with a firearm.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office has also charged Chito in Thursday's robbery of the Lucky Turtle Arcade in North Fort Myers. Chito allegedly used the same tactics, brandishing a handgun and stuffing cash into a pillowcase, the department said.
Detectives arrested Chito at a Fort Myers hotel after using license plate readers and other techniques to locate him, the department said.
“We solved this robbery in less than 12 hours thanks to our boots on the ground working together with the analysts in the Real Time Intelligence Center," Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement.
The sheriff's office is also investigating a Wednesday night theft at The Vegas Experience video casino in Iona, where two men broke in, used the gambling machines for several hours and took money from lockboxes.
"We are actively working with our law enforcement partners to determine a possible connection or additional suspects in other incidents," the department said in a statement.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 2 arrests made in Cape Coral, North Fort Myers video casinos robberies
