Esther Torres (Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center).
A Florida woman has been sentenced for allegedly luring men to hotel rooms, pepper-spraying them, and stealing their luxury timepieces.
Esther Torres, 20, was originally arrested on two counts of robbery in the first degree, according to the Miami Beach Police Department.
Two underlying incidents occurred in late March. Her case drew to a close earlier this week with a plea agreement on counts of armed robbery, burglary and grand theft in the third degree.
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The first incident occurred at the Breakwater Hotel. There, a victim was pepper-sprayed before his Hugo Boss watch was taken directly off his wrist. The perpetrator also stole over $200 in cash and Euros, along with multiple credit cards, police claim.
The second incident occurred at the Fontainebleau Hotel. There, a man was pepper-sprayed and his assailant made off with a $22,000 Rolex Submariner, according to the police department.
During that second incident, the man claimed to have been rendered temporarily blind by his attacker”s use of the chemical weapon.
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In each instance, police said Torres was seen on surveillance footage leaving the hotels after the men were relieved of their watches.
“We have a predator, and she’s preying on male victims,” Mitch Novick, the owner of the Sherbrooke Hotel, told Miami-based Fox affiliate WSVN in an interview this week.
Investigators contacted Novick to ask for his help with surveillance footage – which the hotelier was more than happy to supply.
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During someone else’s traffic stop in April, Torres arrived on the scene after the man driving was arrested. The defendant was identified by her driver’s license, police told Miami-based ABC affiliate WPLG. She was called to come pick up the vehicle – but police took notes.
In May, she was arrested after police confirmed her identity based on an image from a “need to identify” flyer issued by law enforcement.
Initially, Torres was ordered to be detained without bond.
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Police later released body-worn camera footage of the arrest – in which a child is heard shouting off-screen. Police said Torres had a child in her car at the time of the arrest.
“You have no weapons on you, none of that stuff, right?” an officer asks in the brief clip.
To which Torres replied: “No, no.”
The defendant is no longer in the jail system – after being granted a recognizance bond in late June, court records show.
She was sentenced to five years probation on Wednesday.
