GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Prosecutors told a judge Thursday they intend to ask to keep jailed indefinitely a former University of Florida student and son of a state judge accused of robbing a smoke shop at gunpoint and stealing $420 worth of marijuana.
The Wild Side Smoke Shop is close enough to UF’s campus that the reported robbery Wednesday afternoon prompted at least six urgent alerts to students and faculty to avoid the area for their safety.
Major Leo Carney Croom, 19, of Vero Beach was arrested at his apartment near the robbery and spent the night in the Alachua County Jail. A judge provisionally ordered him held without bail. The State Attorney’s Office filed court papers Thursday indicating prosecutors will ask to keep him in jail pending his trial.
A judge also ordered the jail to evaluate Croom’s mental health within 24 hours. The university on Wednesday banned Croom from being anywhere on campus for three years.
Croom was a freshman business major in last year’s fall semester but was not listed as a current UF student, according to enrollment records from the university’s registrar’s office.
The home address Croom provided to the University of Florida last year when he was a student is a $1.5 million home in Vero Beach. Janet Carney Croom, 56, a circuit judge in Indian River County who handles juvenile delinquency cases, listed the same address on her voting registration records and on mortgage documents filed with the county.
The judge did not immediately respond to phone messages asking about her son’s case. She announced in a letter last week to Gov. Ron DeSantis that she plans to resign as circuit judge, effective June 15, “to spend irreplaceable time with family.”
The sheriff’s office moved Croom into protective custody in the jail on Thursday because of his mother.
Here’s what police said happened in Gainesville:
At 3:05 p.m., officers said, Croom asked employees in the smoke shop for six bottles of THC-A marijuana, totaling around $420 dollars. The substance is below the threshold for marijuana in Florida that requires a medical marijuana card.
The figure 420 is significant in the weed world, culture slang for marijuana consumption. It also refers to cannabis-oriented celebrations that take place annually on April 20 in the U.S.
Workers asked him for his ID, when Croom drew a gun, according to his arrest report.
After pointing the gun at both employees, Croom grabbed the marijuana and ran, officers said.
One woman told officers that she saw Croom walking into the parking garage of her apartment building, Ufora, about 10 minutes after the robbery. She said he was barefoot and looked agitated.
Gainesville police said they saw Croom on the apartment complex’s security cameras walking into the apartment building. They said he used a fingerprint scanner that only residents can use to enter the building.
Officers said they found Croom standing on his balcony and yelled at him to come down.
Croom told investigators he didn’t own a gun and said he found a fake gun on the ground on his way to Wild Side. Court records said he told officers he brought it to the store in case workers refused to sell him the low-grade marijuana. In Florida, buyers must be 21 to buy THC-a cannabis.
Croom told police he threw away the fake gun at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant after the robbery. Gainesville police said Croom’s gun was real, despite his claim.
Two employees at the smoke shop identified Croom as the person who robbed them at gunpoint, according to his arrest report. He faces two felony charges of armed robbery with a deadly weapon.
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