A 20-year-old Florida woman has been sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a series of brazen hotel robberies in Miami Beach earlier this year.
The woman, identified by police through surveillance footage and later arrested in May, admitted to luring men to upscale hotels, pepper-spraying them, and stealing their high-end watches. Prosecutors said she struck twice in late March, first at the Breakwater Hotel on Ocean Drive and then days later at the Fontainebleau, one of Miami’s most iconic resorts.
The first victim, an international tourist, told investigators he invited the woman to his room at the Breakwater. Once inside, she pepper-sprayed him, ripped a Hugo Boss watch from his wrist, and stole his wallet, which contained more than $200 in cash, euros, and several credit cards. Video surveillance captured her leaving the hotel moments later.
Four days later, police say she used the same tactic at the Fontainebleau. Meeting a man in the hotel lobby, she agreed to go back to his room. Once there, she sprayed him in the eyes with a liquid believed to be pepper spray, temporarily blinding him, and took off with his $22,000 Rolex Submariner. Surveillance cameras again caught her fleeing, with the victim stumbling after her in obvious distress.
“These are predatory crimes,” said Mitch Novick, owner of the nearby Sherbrooke Hotel, after the incidents were made public. “She was preying on male victims.”
Police identified her weeks later during a traffic stop when she arrived at the scene after another driver had been arrested. A “need to identify” flyer circulated to officers helped confirm her identity. She was booked into jail in May and initially held without bond, though a judge later granted her a recognizance bond in June.
Body camera footage of her arrest revealed another unsettling detail: her young child was in the car at the time. In the video, an officer is heard asking if she had any weapons, to which she responded, “No, no.”
The case moved quickly once charges were filed. Originally arrested on two counts of first-degree robbery, she ultimately accepted a plea deal for armed robbery, burglary, and grand theft in the third degree. The judge sentenced her Friday to probation rather than prison, meaning she will avoid additional jail time so long as she complies with the terms of her sentence.
