A man accused of stealing more than $2,600 worth of marijuana products from a delivery driver appeared Friday in Clark County Superior Court.
Felipe Castro Jr., 24, no place of residence available, is accused of first-degree robbery. He is being held on a total of $80,000 bail, between three cases, and will be arraigned Aug. 21, court records show.
At about 11:25 a.m. July 15, police responded to Fire and Frost Cannabis Dispensary, 6818 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd., for reports of a theft that had occurred. The caller said a tote of marijuana products was stolen from a delivery driver, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The driver, Peter Moffett, said he was dropping off the delivery when he noticed a man sitting in a dark-colored, older sedan parked at the back of the store. Moffett unloaded the first of two totes, locked his SUV and entered the store. When he returned, however, he saw that his rear passenger door was wide open, the affidavit says.
He ran toward the sedan parked next to his SUV and confronted the man, identified by police as Castro. Moffett jumped onto Castro’s vehicle and saw the tote in the back seat. Moffett crawled across the hood of Castro’s car and started to kick and punch him through the window, yelling at him to give back the tote, the court document states.
Castro put his hands up and told Moffett to take the tote back, but then he started to drive off instead. Moffett clung onto Castro through the driver’s side window as Castro drove from the back of the store to the front parking lot, according to court records.
“Peter let go of Felipe and the vehicle out of fear he would be injured as they entered the roadway,” the affidavit reads. Moffett fell to the ground, and Castro sped off with the stolen marijuana products, police said.
A delivery manifest and invoice with the stolen marijuana products showed a loss worth more than $2,600, according to the affidavit.
Video surveillance from the store shows Castro casing the area and checking the door handles to Moffett’s SUV. When he discovers a rear passenger door is unlocked, he grabs the tote of marijuana products and puts it inside his car. He then gets into the driver’s seat as Moffett exits the store, the court document states.
A Samaritan is also seen pulling into the parking lot in a red truck as the situation unfolds and attempts to stop Castro from leaving. Afterward, the red truck chases Castro west onto Fourth Plain, court records say.
Shortly after, someone called in a car in a field behind 5500 N.E. 34th St. Police responded and found the stolen vehicle, which was also used by Castro in the robbery. The stolen tote of marijuana products was recovered from the back seat, and everything was accounted for, according to the affidavit.
A witness took photos of the man ditching the car in the field. Police compared the photos with surveillance from the shop and confirmed it was the same person, the court document states.
The affidavit does not detail how Castro was located and arrested.
