A man in Orlando, Florida pretended to be a police officer and robbed a woman at gunpoint in a hotel. The incident took place on August 23, and the victim reported that the man, wearing a fake badge, forced his way into her room, restrained her with handcuffs, and stole her wallet while displaying what looked like a handgun.
Surveillance footage from the hotel confirmed the woman’s account and showed the suspect, later identified as 27-year-old Michael Darren Jesse Rodriguez, arriving on the hotel floor with his fake badge. Rodriguez had a history of similar robberies in Miami Springs and Lantana, Florida.
On September 8, 2024, Rodriguez was apprehended by the Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia while driving the same vehicle linked to the Orlando and Lantana incidents. Detectives from Orlando traveled to Georgia and found a fake police badge, handcuffs, and other evidence related to the cases in Rodriguez’s vehicle.
Rodriguez was charged with falsely impersonating an officer to commit a felony with a weapon, false imprisonment with a weapon, and robbery with a firearm. He was arrested on October 2 following an arrest warrant issued by the Orlando Police Department.
Orlando police encouraged any other potential victims of Rodriguez to come forward and contact law enforcement. For more information on the case, Fox News Digital has reached out to the Orlando Police Department for comments.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, can be contacted for story tips and ideas at sarah.rumpf@fox.com or on Twitter at @s_rumpfwhitten.