MIAMI – Workers at a Kwik Store with MoneyGram services in Miami recently told police officers one of their regular customers tried to set it all on fire while under the influence of alcohol, records show.
Pedro Rodriguez bought a lottery scratch-off game, left, and allegedly returned to tell a store clerk that he had left his keys and a check on the counter, according to police.
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The store’s employees told police they couldn’t find the keys or the check, and Rodriguez, 53, left again — but he returned with a gallon and poured gasoline on the floor.
“He slips and falls ... struck his forehead on the register counter ... he stated, ‘I am coming back with a lighter,’ stumbles to walk out of the store,” Officer Felix Piloto wrote in his report.
A store employee reported locking the door closed after seeing Rodriguez approaching the store and when he couldn’t get back inside, he left. According to Piloto’s report, surveillance video corroborates’ the report on March 15 at Northwest 17 Avenue and 14 Terrace in Miami’s Allapattah area.
Police officers searched for Rodriguez and arrested him on Tuesday. Inmate records show he was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Wednesday facing charges of first-degree attempted arson, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a battery, and attempted burglary.
A bond court judge set his bond at $50,003 and ordered him to stay away from the store. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carlos Humberto Gamez was set to preside over the case.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega contributed to this report.