FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - One of three people responsible for attacking women after they followed them home from grocery stores across Broward County, back in January, recorded herself on Facebook Live moments before her arrest, authorities said.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, 18-year-old Erica Abraham recorded herself on the popular smartphone app just before she was taken into custody, Jan. 23. Prosecutors said she was recording herself driving around town while police followed her.
“I mean, I can’t be going to jail,” Abraham is heard saying in the video.
Investigators released the video more than four months after, they said, the trio targeted shoppers leaving supermarkets in Plantation and Dania Beach over a three-day period. They would then bump into the victims’ cars to mimic a fender bender. When the women got out of their cars, detectives said, the subjects beat and robbed them.
Authorities said the two other suspects are Abraham’s 15-year-old brother and a female juvenile.
Detectives said Abraham and the two other suspects were inside a Nissan, which was captured on surveillance video following a 73-year-old woman into El Dorado Estates, a gated community in Plantation, Jan. 18.
That victim’s husband, Al Reidel, described the violent attack to 7News shortly after the incident. “[They] punched her in the face the first time and then punched her again, so her nose is all blown up,” he said. “She fell down, and the guy got in [her] car and sped off.”
Investigators said the two female robbers got back into the Nissan, and the robbers then fled the scene with the victim’s purse. The woman’s car was later recovered.
“You have to live your life now as if something is going to happen to you,” said Reidel.
As it turns out, there’s another crime connection between the string of violent robberies and a 2003 case. Authorities said Abraham’s uncle, Nevia Abraham, kidnapped a mail carrier and led police on a three-hour-long chase across Miami-Dade County, all while holding a knife to the postal worker.
Nevia, an ex-convict at the time, eventually let the mail carrier go and surrendered to police. He was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison.
Erica Abraham is being held at the Broward County Jail on nearly $400,000 bond. All three suspects are facing numerous felony charges.
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