PALMETTO BAY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police arrested two Broward men in Palmetto Bay Tuesday after suspecting them of targeting two Chase Bank customers in two separate robberies in less than two hours Monday.
According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Police Department, the duo appeared to be staking out a third Chase branch Tuesday when authorities moved in and later apprehended them — after a chase.
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In the first robbery, police said a victim withdrew $3,100 from the bank’s branch at 12795 S. Dixie Highway in Pinecrest and, not knowing he was being followed, drove to his apartment just south of The Falls shopping center at around 2 p.m. Monday.
According to police, that’s when Bervinson Francois, 19, wearing a face mask, got out of a silver Genesis G80 with a Miami Heat license plate, pulled out a “small-frame assault pistol” and told the victim “hey, give me the money you took out.”
An arrest report states the victim refused and he and Francois struggled over the money until Francois hit him over the head with his gun and took the money out of his pocket.
Police said Francois, of Fort Lauderdale, then got into the back seat of the Genesis and his accomplice, Jose Nahum Elize, 22, of Cooper City, drove off.
Then, about an hour-and-a-half later, another victim withdrew $80, all in quarters, from the Chase branch at 11895 Sherry Lane in Kendall and went back to his workplace, the nearby Palm Inn at 11750 Mills Drive, police said, not knowing the pair had followed him.
The report states a man in a ski mask, believed to be Francois, approached the victim, pointed a gun at him, then immediately “snatched” the envelopes containing the quarters out of his hand, causing the coins to fall to the ground.
The victim told police that Francois and Elize only made off with about $10.
On Tuesday, MDPD robbery detectives spotted the Genesis cruising down U.S. 1 and followed it to the Chase Bank at 18415 S Dixie Highway in Cutler Bay.
Police said Elize and Francois parked in the rear of the bank, then moved to the front and backed in facing the front door.
According to the report, police activated their emergency lights in an attempt to stop the pair, but they drove towards police, striking a detective’s car and then fleeing onto U.S. 1, where they got into another crash at the intersection with Southwest 152nd Street in Palmetto Bay.
Police said they apprehended Elize immediately and then captured Francois after he ran down Southwest 89th Avenue. They said both men had masks around their necks.
According to jail records, Francois and Elize were being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on armed robbery charges, as of Wednesday afternoon.