A Boca Raton man faces robbery charges after police said he posed as a state security officer and confronted a gas station employee in Coral Springs on October 14.
According to a Coral Springs Police Department arrest report, the employee was cleaning trash receptacles near the fuel pumps at the Rebel gas station at 4150 North State Road 7 when Charles Guess, 73, approached him and asked whether he was authorized to work there. Guess allegedly demanded identification, then displayed something from a wallet and asked, “Do you know who I am?” Police said Guess claimed to be with “state security” or “state safety,” but he had no authority to act as a law enforcement officer.
The affidavit says Guess ordered the worker toward the entrance to lock the door, then shoved him and told him to sit down. The employee went down onto one knee, fearing for his safety. Guess allegedly demanded his cellphone, and when the worker refused, took his keys, including those for his home, the gas station and his personal vehicle.
Officers were later alerted by another officer who reported being waved down by someone matching the suspect’s description. The employee identified Guess in a police identification procedure, and investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the station manager.
Dispatchers also found that Guess had an active Broward Sheriff’s Office warrant for violating probation in an earlier petit theft case. He was arrested October 14 and taken to the Broward County Main Jail.
