Police say a gang of men came up with a novel idea for a series of robberies: Call escorts, meet them at hotel rooms, and then rob them at gunpoint. For some reason, the robberies sometimes ended in the men pepper spraying the escorts.
In response, cops from Plantation Police, Fort Lauderdale Police, and BSO launched an investigation, and now five men are in custody, accused of robbing six escorts with a
firearm.
Over the course of months, the men met the escorts by finding them on
Backpage.com, which is owned by Village Voice Media, the parent company
of the Pulp and New Times.
"To arrest all of them, the
detectives from all the agencies worked together to bring this to
justice," said Det. Travis Mandell, spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale
Police Department.
The men charged in the sting include Eutil
Couch, 29, Brandon Lamichael Medina, 23, Henry Ronald Mitchell, 24,
Keonta Murray, 26, and Jonathan H. Williams, 22. They're in jail without
bond.
Mandell said there could be other escort robbers out there
and asked anyone with information to call Broward Crime Stoppers at
954-493-8477.
Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB. Follow Eric Barton on Twitter: @ericbarton.
