BOCA RATON – Police from several departments joined forces to arrest a man and a woman on armed robbery charges stemming from an alleged heist Wednesday, October 24, at about 4:50 p.m. outside the U.S. Post Office at 604 Banyan Trail.
Brian Verdell Reed, 35, of Naples, and Annette DiCocco, 23, of West Palm Beach, were charged with armed robbery. Reed was also charged with providing a false name, which he gave to officers when he was placed under arrest.
The police report said the victim had just left the post office and was opening the passenger door of her car when a male pointed a silver handgun at her and demanded her purse. The victim handed the purse to the robber who then pointed the gun at the victim’s husband, who was sitting in the driver’s seat. The husband gave the suspect his wallet and the robber ran to an adjacent parking lot. The victim went inside the post office to get help and her husband followed the suspect.
The husband saw the suspect get into the passenger side of a small Chevrolet and followed them to Highland Beach. The driver of the Chevrolet, later identified as Annette DiCocco, turned into a neighborhood that had only one point of exit. Boca Raton police officers, with assistance from members of Highland Beach Police, Delray Beach Police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, were able to contain the suspects in the neighborhood, where they were located by Boca Raton officers hiding in the water under a dock.
The male suspect, identified by police as Brian Reed, had been recently released from prison after serving several years for multiple felonies. Both the victim and her husband identified Reed as the man who robbed them. B
Boca Raton officers located a silver pellet gun in the bushes near the Chevrolet. Items belonging to the victim and her husband were found in DiCocco’s purse, which she had with her when she was found under the dock, police said.