A 20-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday July 15th in Deltona after robbing two gas stations and briefly holding a clerk hostage in the second incident while claiming he had a gun.
The first incident occurred around 1:45 a.m. at the Circle K located at 2196 Howland Boulevard. According to the clerk, the suspect approached the counter and handed him a note demanding money and threatening to shoot him if he did not comply. The clerk refused, and the suspect fled the store without taking anything.
Minutes later, deputies responded to a second Circle K across the street at 2720 Elkam Boulevard. A deputy arriving on scene witnessed the clerk attempting to flee the store. As the clerk tried to exit, the suspect grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back inside.
The clerk managed to break free and escape out the back of the store.
Deputies observed the suspect, later identified as Dylan Hope, still inside the building through the front glass doors. They issued verbal commands, and Hope complied, exiting the store where he was detained without incident.
Hope later told detectives that he grabbed the clerk because he was trying to think of a better way to escape.
Hope is charged with two counts of armed robbery, armed kidnapping, written threats to kill, false imprisonment, and petit theft. He is currently being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
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