by Dabney Richards
The woman who robbed three Publix locations this fall has now been arrested. An African American woman by the name of Ericka Tecora Long is in custody now after she approached four different customer service desks and quietly directed the personnel at each to give her all the money that they had in the registers. According to FBI reports, Long was arrest on November 19, 2019, at her home in Florida City, by Miami Dade Police Department and the FBI Violent
Crimes Task Force.
The twenty-eight-year-old told the Publix employees that she had a weapon on her and that they should not call their managers. She presented her threats through a message shown on her phone. These instances were all caught on camera. The Publix stores located at
9510 Southwest 160th Street, 13735 Southwest 152nd Street, 11750 Southwest 104th Street, and 9041 SW 107th Avenue were all of the locations she targeted.
The robberies took place on September 30, 2019, at around 9:14 p.m., October 11, 2019, at around 7 p.m., October 20, 2019, in the afternoon at about 12:30 p.m., and on November 17, 2019, at about 8:47 p.m. respectively.
The suspect had long dark hair and wore a cap and sunglasses as she entered the premises. She got away with over $9,000 dollars in cash and originally was thought to have fled on foot, however, police found the vehicle she used in her escapes. With the help of surveillance, the vehicle was traced to someone who rented the car to Long.
The ankle monitor she had due to a prior charge was used to trace Long’s location and connect them to the areas where these robberies were located. She also along with the three known Publix locations, robbed a gas station in the area. In all of these instances, there were no injuries reported.