Orange City E-Cig Robber Arrested

Date Added: January 13, 2017 12:05 pm

Andrew Gant
Public Information Office

E-CIG ROBBER ARRESTED

A suspect in the Jan. 6 armed robbery of an e-cigarette store near Orange City is in custody on several felony charges today after investigators tracked him down using surveillance images, witness descriptions and license-plate reader technology.

David W. Strickland, 56 (DOB 8/20/1960), was taken into custody this morning as investigators executed a search warrant at his home on Harwick Lane in Ormond Beach. He is also facing charges in an unrelated residential burglary committed the same day as the robbery.

Strickland, also a suspect in several other robbery cases in Central Florida, was already wanted in Volusia County on a warrant charging him with burglary, grand theft, dealing in stolen property and giving false information to a pawnbroker. An additional warrant has been issued charging him with armed robbery in the E-Cig case.

The burglary-related charges stem from a break-in on Fergason Avenue in Deltona. Around 4:52 p.m. Jan. 6, deputies responded to a home where the front door was kicked in and a guitar was stolen.

Using surveillance video from a nearby residence, investigators identified a newer-model white SUV that pulled up to the house at the time of the burglary. A man exited the vehicle, then returned about six minutes later and drove away.

The SUV matched the description of the one seen in surveillance footage of the E-Cig robbery, which occurred earlier that afternoon, just before 4 p.m.on North Volusia Avenue near Orange City.

Investigators soon reviewed other camera footage in Deltona and spotted a white SUV driving on Providence Boulevard. Using license-plate reader technology, investigators and analysts with the Volusia County Crime Center identified the vehicle as a 2016 Toyota RAV-4 with a partial tag that came back with a potential match to Strickland's address on Harwick Lane.

Then investigators discovered Strickland's physical description (56 years of age, gray hair and facial hair, and about 5'7" tall) matched that of the armed suspect who robbed E-Cig Source.

Next, an investigator started looking for any recent pawn-shop transactions involving Strickland. He found several in recent months, including one on Jan. 6. It was the guitar stolen during that day's residential burglar, pawned for $65.

Deputies went to Strickland's house just after 9 a.m. today to serve the search warrant, and Strickland was taken into custody and interviewed. He will be taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail and held without bond.