A homeless man and an Ocala woman were charged with robbing a woman after she gave them and another woman a ride to the Stevens Motel early Wednesday morning.
Christopher Britt McDowell, 36, who gave his address as homeless, is being held in the Marion County Jail on $20,000 bond after being charged with robbery. Chrisanthi L. Dafopoulos, 28, of 1134 NE Sixth St., was charged with robbery without a firearm or weapon. She’s being held on $10,000 bond. Both are due to appear in Marion County Court on Feb. 26.
The victim told a Marion County sheriff’s deputy that she was on a meal break from work and drove to the RaceTrac convenience store at 3040 South Pine Ave. The store was closed and she encountered Dafopoulos and another woman knocking on the window. They asked if the victim was going to another store and whether she could give them a ride, and she agreed. They then asked if “Spike” (McDowell) could come as well and she said yes.
The victim drove to the Shell station at 1741 South Pine Ave. and all four went inside and made purchases. When they left the store, the three passengers asked if the victim could drop them off at the motel, located at 3231 South Pine Avenue.
When they arrived at the motel, the witness got out of the car from the front passenger seat and McDowell told the victim he’d shoot her if she didn’t let him take her stuff, a sheriff’s office report states, adding that the victim said she didn’t see a gun but feared for her life after McDowell’s comment.
Once the three subjects were gone, the victim returned to the Shell station to call 911 because her phone was dead. She discovered a red pair of Air Jordan tennis shoes, a pair of Victoria’s Secret sandals and some body spray had been taken. She estimated the total value of the items to be around $200.
The witness who accompanied the two suspects told the deputy she saw Dafopoulos remove the sneakers, sandals and body spray but said she didn’t hear McDowell say anything threatening. The deputy determined the witness didn’t have knowledge of the robbery until after it happened, so she wasn’t arrested.
Dafopoulos, who was busted in a prostitution sting this past September, first said she had no knowledge of anything being stolen but later said McDowell had stolen a pair of shoes. When she got to the jail, she changed her story again, this time saying she had taken the shoes while McDowell had taken the sandals and body spray.
McDowell said while they were riding in the victim’s vehicle, Dafopoulos held up the tennis shoes and mouthed something to him, letting him know she was going to take them. He said that although he knew what Dafopoulos was going to do, he wanted no part of it. He denied taking anything and making any threatening statements to the victim and said he didn’t know the sandals or body spray were taken until he was in the motel room.