EUSTIS, Florida—A woman driving a stolen car called 9-1-1 as she followed the pair of teenagers she accused of robbing her at knifepoint late Sunday night and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrested all three of them.
Hannah Hofmann, 20, called Eustis Police Department and said she was following the two males who robbed her at a home on Goose Prairie Road in unincorporated Leesburg. Hofmann said she was staying at a friend’s house and asked Jacob Riley Belanger, 18, and Christopher Sanders, 17, to help her bring her belongings into the home from her vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit.
The trio made a second trip to Hofmann’s vehicle, and she stated she had about $2,000 in her console in $100 denominations, and Belanger and Sanders allegedly pulled out knives and demanded Hofmann give them the money; she handed over the cash and the pair ran from the home. Hofmann followed the pair and to County Road 44 and Emeralda Island Road where they were picked up by a vehicle at a gas station by Belanger’s mother and another man, according to the affidavit.
Hofmann followed the vehicle into the City of Eustis where it was pulled over by EPD. Belanger was searched and found with $1,100 in $100 bills. He told deputies and officers his mother gave him $800, and the rest came from a check and a birthday present; Belanger turned 18 the day prior to the incident. Belanger said he did know the victim but had seen her a few times and that Sanders was trying to date her. He said Hofmann was attempting to get him to ride with her so she could turn herself in on a warrant she believed she had and that she had been robbed and wanted him to go to a motel in Leesburg with her.
Sanders refused to talk to law enforcement and requested a lawyer.
While investigating the incident, LCSO found that Hofmann was driving a vehicle reported stolen from Marion County.
Belanger and Sanders were arrested for armed robbery with a deadly weapon. Sanders was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice and Belanger was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on $25,000 bond. Hofmann was arrested for grand theft auto and also transported to LCJ where she is being held on no bond due to a retainer.
