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2 Held In Robbery Of Lake Wales IHOP

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TBO.com

Published: January 23, 2009

Lake Wales police arrested two robbery suspects Thursday night, including one whose death penalty conviction for a 1998 murder of a citrus grower had been overturned, leading to his release.

Authorities charged Darryl Moody, whose first-degree murder conviction was thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court in 2003, as the getaway car driver in a robbery of the International House of Pancakes that occurred shortly before midnight, according to Polk County sheriff's deputies.

Moody was sentenced to death in the 1998 killing of citrus grower Scott Mitchell, but his conviction was overturned, authorities said. He was retried and convicted of third-degree murder. He was released from prison five years ago, records show.

On Thursday night, deputies said, Moody dropped Timothy Jones off at the restaurant at 740 State Road 60 in Lake Wales shortly before midnight and parked the car around the corner.

Jones is accused of then walking into the IHOP with a silver revolver and robbing it, deputies said.

A Lake Wales police officer was driving by at the time and heard the call over the radio, just as a suspect exited the restaurant, deputies said. The officer saw the suspect get into the car driven by Moody, authorities said.

After a short chase that involved officers and deputies, both men abandoned the car near the Grover Manor apartment complex and ran, but were caught a short time later.

Moody, 47, 2430 Lisa St., Lake Wales, was charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment, fleeing to elude, and resisting an officer without violence.

Jones, 36, 2220 Lilly St., Lake Wales, was charged with armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, openly carrying a firearm, false imprisonment and resisting an officer without violence.

Both remain jailed without bail.

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