VERO BEACH — A phone with text messages and calls to a getaway driver and a Mulligan’s employee, along with DNA extracted from a mask, helped detectives make an arrest in the armed robbery of a beachside restaurant that occurred in mid-August.
Officers said the suspect left behind his phone, mask, and other items during his escape. After the robbery, the suspect met up with the Mulligan’s employee at a barbecue in Gifford, reports show.
Sederick Upton PHOTO PROVIDED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Police on Wednesday arrested Sederick Maurice Upton, 43, of the 2400 block of 42nd Street, Gifford, on charges of robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping or false imprisonment and burglary with assault. Upton was held Saturday at the Indian River County Jail on a $400,000 bond.
Officers were still investigating the employee, who they described as a person of interest, along with the driver.
Vero Beach police Chief David Currey gave an update Friday on the robbery that occurred just after midnight on Aug. 18 at Mulligan’s Beach House, located in Sexton Plaza off Ocean Drive.
Upton, who went unnoticed by workers, walked in an office, held a manager at gunpoint, forced her to put about $4,900 in cash in a bag and then tied her up with shoestrings. Upton, wearing a black mask and black hoodie, also stole the manager’s Apple watch and a silver bracelet, police said.
Currey said the employee who spoke with Upton had clocked out just before the incident. Officers combed through several surveillance videos, one of which shows Upton speaking on the phone before walking into the popular beachside eatery.
Video by Nick Samuel
Police responded within minutes and found a black bandana and a black hoodie on the ground in the south side parking lot of the Reef Ocean Resort. Investigators also found a black mask, black hair net and a cell phone in the bed of a silver Ram 1500 pickup, reports show.
Detectives spoke with the Mulligan’s workers who were in the eatery at the time of the theft.
During the investigation, officers examined Upton’s phone and discovered he exchanged two phone calls with the Mulligan’s employee before the robbery. Detectives said the employee received an incoming call at 8:51 p.m. on Aug. 17 that lasted 51 seconds and made an outgoing call at 11:10 p.m. that lasted 1 minute and 9 seconds.
The employee admitted to police that he spoke with Upton the night of the robbery. The worker said he and Upton talked about “girls,” reports show.
Officers searched the employee’s phone and found five pictures showing the inside and outside of Mulligan’s. The images included the north side doorway where Upton walked in and the door leading to the small office where the robbery occurred.
Police found five text messages between Upton and the getaway driver that were sent before the incident.
At 11:11 p.m. on Aug. 17, the driver texted Upton “I’m on Cypress. The first two-story complex on corner in back. Right next to sidewalk,” an arrest affidavit shows. Upton replied “okay (thumbs up symbol).”
After reviewing the text messages, investigators found the manager’s Apple watch about 2:13 a.m. in the 800 block of Cypress Road, less than a mile from Mulligan’s.
On Sept. 3, detectives sent the mask and bandana found in the parking lot to the Indian River Crime Lab in Fort Pierce. Police received results on Oct. 2 that match Upton with the DNA found in the mask, reports show.
Police booked Upton into the county jail. Upton has an arraignment at 8:45 a.m. Nov. 21, court records show.