Tourists Targeted by Thieves Posing as Hotel Security

A tourist from Alaska was vacationing in Florida with a Wyoming woman when the pair were tied up in their hotel room and robbed. Officials said that the pair, legally blind 58-year-old Randall Carlson of Fairbanks, Alaska, and 53-year-old Patricia Gerondakis, of Jackson, Wyo., were uninjured after being tricked into thinking that the thieves were hotel security working for the Best Western hotel in Cutler Bay.

On Wednesday the pair were trying to locate their hotel when they accepted the assistance of a man who they let into their car, the man then directed the pair to the hotel. According to authorities the suspect even went so far as to assist the couple in checking in and carried their luggage up to their hotel room. The suspect then returned some time later with two other men, the three identifying themselves to the travelers as hotel security to gain entrance to the room. The men allegedly forced their way into the room, tied up the tourists and robbed them.

Police later located the pair's stolen rental car and took 33-year-old Leon Abdul Spruill into custody on several charges, including robbery and kidnapping. They are still looking for the other two suspects.