An elderly woman who was the victim of a robbery last summer is warning locals that there may be an international robbery ring whose members may be using aliases in each town they target.
Joyce Boatwright, 94, of Zellwood, has been a 30-year customer of Bank of America and holds a credit card and two bank accounts with the institution. Usually, she only withdraws a few hundred dollars from an ATM. However, because she needed a larger sum of cash – $1,000 – to pay for help that was visiting her home later that day on June 26, 2024, she visited the Bank of Apopka in downtown Apopka.
Once Boatwright reached home, she discovered her money – which was in an envelope – had disappeared. Believing she must have dropped her cash somewhere, she phoned the Apopka bank to check its whereabouts.
The following day, the bank manager called Boatwright with surprising news: She didn’t misplace her money – it was stolen. The manager advised that she file a police report.
“He said two people followed me in. One went to the teller a couple windows from me so he could hear what I was doing, and then the other one waited,” Boatwright said. “Then when I got the money, the teller put it in an envelope. I put it in my purse, and I walked out to the car, and they followed me out. Somewhere between the bank and my car, the money disappeared.”
The bank manager told Boatwright the thieves were “very slick” in their actions, and that they were members of an international ring whose members change their names in every city. The bank captured the suspects’ images on video and showed them to all the bank employees and the police.
The bank staff and the police confirmed to Boatwright that it was her on the surveillance video as well. Yet she couldn’t remember anyone following her because she was too focused on what she called her “bad feet” and maneuvering her walker to pay attention.
At first, Boatwright wasn’t going to file a police report, calling the situation “hopeless,” but her granddaughter, a bank manager, convinced her otherwise.
“They’ve got the picture of their faces, and she said they might be able to find them,” Boatright said. “So, we decided to go to the police department.”
Boatwright filed a police report on July 4, 2024. Since reporting the crime, Boatwright called the police for updates on the investigation.
In an April 2 message to The Apopka Chief responding to a public records request, Sgt. Kim Walsh confirmed that the robbery did take place last summer at the Apopka Bank of America.
“I can confirm the Apopka Police Department documented via report 202441002073 taken on 07/29/2024 a Grand Theft occurred at Bank of America, 33 E Main St. Apopka, on June 26, 2024, at approximately 2 p.m.,” she wrote. “The victim in this case has enacted Marsy’s Law. This case is an active investigation.”
Boatwright never recovered her money. Despite police involvement, the incident has been a hard case to solve due to the suspects using aliases as they travel, she said.
“As far as the $1,000, I don’t ever expect to see that again, because the bank was not responsible, they said, for anything outside [the building], even though they [the thieves] had followed me inside,” Boatwright said. “I felt like the bank should have reached out a little bit more to me than what they did, but that’s their rules.”
The robbery heightened her awareness of her being a potential target again and therefore changed the way she does her banking.
Boatwright mentions that her daughter, Karyn Boatwright, now accompanies her to the bank for safety.
“My daughter always goes with me (now),” Boatwright said. “She always goes with me because she’s living with me now. So, she always takes me to the bank. She won’t even let me drive there.”
Boatwright said she doesn’t know of anyone who may be getting robbed by the same suspects.
Boatwright carries a handbag over her neck and keeps it in front of her instead of her side, making it more difficult for any thief to steal from her person. She offered a final piece of advice on safeguarding oneself from robbers: “I would just say for people to beware of their surroundings.”
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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