Update: The Daytona Beach Police Department located Alexander Devonte Brown and took him into custody, according to a sheriff’s update issued just before 5 p.m. The two other suspects are still being sought.
It was half past noon Wednesday when someone rang the doorbell at Byron Cuthbertson’s home at 111 Pine Grove Drive in Palm Coast. It was Cuthbertson’s nephew, Alexander Brown, 20, of Hampton Road in Daytona Beach. Cuthbertson let him in.
As Cuthbertson, 36, was walking toward his kitchen, Brown allegedly pulled out a short black semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at him, told him to lay down on the floor and threatened to shoot him if he did not reveal where he kept his money. As he did so, two unidentified black men who were outside the house walked in, according to Cuthbertson’s account to Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies.
They wore black hoodies, the hoods closed so as to hide their faces. The men wore what looked like white latex gloves. Burglars often wear latex gloves to avoid leaving prints behind. As Brown held him at gunpoint, the two men went through the bedrooms and took about $1,800 in cash that had been in Cuthbertson’s dresser, plus items valued at $6,300. They took two gold-colored chains–and a pillowcase off his bed that the alleged robbers used to fill with more of his belongings, much of it jewelry.
Brown then told his uncle as he was leaving that he would pay him back once he had the money, as long as Cuthbertson didn’t tell the cops.
The men left. Cuthbertson got up and saw them speed off in a vehicle toward Belle Terre Parkway.
Later, a 36-year-old woman who lives at the same house got to the scene from work, according to a sheriff’s report, and told deputies “she received a video from [Brown’s] step-father which showed all of the items that were taken from the residence.” Cuthbertson meanwhile had contacted several family members, informing them of the robbery, including Brown’s mother. Brown had told his mother of the incident, “apologizing for his actions and stating he told her that he threw a bag with the stolen items inside over his mother’s backyard fence at her home in Daytona Beach,” according to the report.
Brown has a history with law enforcement in Volusia. He was Baker Acted on Aug. 27, and two days charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest: he’d allegedly assaulted the officer during his stay at the hospital. Last April, he was arrested in Volusia on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
“This is a dangerous guy who doesn’t think twice about using violence to get what he wants,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release issued this morning. “I am thankful that the victim managed to escape this situation unharmed. We need to act fast before someone else is not so lucky. My advice to Alexander Brown and the other suspects is to turn yourselves in. We will find you and if you run, you will just go to jail tired.”
The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information on this case or the whereabouts of Alexander Devonte
Brown to call 386-313-4911 or email [email protected]. Or call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS (8477) where tips leading to an arrest could be eligible for a reward up to $5,000.
HayRide says
oh nice family, thats sad you can’t trust a family member, what a piece of trash
Mark says
I’m sure he passed his background check when he got the gun.
Really says
Nothing worse than a loser thief stealing from own Family at gunpoint. Classic” I will pay you back”. Hes been busted so many times before, why is he out. Put them all away for good SMH
LOW LIFE
A.J. says
Family members robbing family members, what a shame. Please catch them.
Ralph says
He’ll get a slap on the wrist, & continue the same shit shortly. How about 5 years & 1 day . if done again 15. YEARS & 1 day.
Ralph says
UNDER AGE WITH A HAND GUN , FELONY , BURGLARY , FELONY, ,LOCK UP THE SCUM & THROW AWAY THE KEY. BLAME IS ON THE JUDGES FOR LIGHT SENTENCES.
Doug says
The SAO will nolo prosecute because the victim won’t cooperate. Shoot the prick and this won’t happen again.
Lena marshall says
Ever heard of a bank! Lot of cash to be holding. More to this story.?
Willy Boy says
Somewhat off subject, but – in the past year Sheriff’s cars have visited my neighbor (mostly at night) and not once have any of the incidents appeared in the Commander’s Report. One after midnight visit involved 6 Sheriff’s vehicles. Still no report. Seems odd, because they put some pretty trivial stuff in those reports.
Richard says
Just another example of someone with multiple previous incidents with law enforcement and the justice system who is back out on the streets. And now escalating their crimes to a level where someone could and WILL get killed because of his actions and decisions. So what does it take for the justice system to WAKE UP a realize WTF is going on? Does it take someones death to do that? SMH and so preventable if people would only do THEIR jobs instead of finding ways to slap peoples hands and be on their way.
Mary Fusco says
A lot of people keep some cash in their home for an emergency. It’s their right. Thieves have no right to take anything. Stop giving them a slap on the wrist and throw their loser butts in jail. Anyone who steals is low life. Anyone who steals from family is even lower.
Joseph Hendrieth says
Shut up I am his family and I love him even if he did anything wrong
BoBo says
I can just imagine Thanksgiving dinner at this families house. Somebody should make a sitcom about it.
The Geode says
…and you wonder WHY we will never get anywhere as a race, culture and as a people. We will excuse “wrongdoing” by masking it as “love”. If you actually LOVE someone, you will want to see them succeed and prosper. I would turn in my own child if he had done something like this. I wouldn’t make excuse to the rest of society who refuses to make “wrongs into rights”