Father, son arrested for robbery

A father and son were arrested for robbing a Stock Island man of his cell phone.

The victim told Deputy Aaron Roddy he was sitting at a picnic table at Bernstein park Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  when two men – one older, one younger - rode up on bikes. He said they accused him of stealing their birth certificates. He said both men hit him in the face. Then then took his cell phone and rode away on their bikes.

He said he knows the men as “Junior” and “Junior Junior”. He said both of them have goatee style beards and the older man had a mohawk style haircut.

Deputy Josh Gordon, who was also on scene, recognized the descriptions and knew the attackers as 44 year old Benjamin Vargas Junior and 25 year old Benjamin Vargas III, a father and son who are homeless and are known to frequent Stock Island.

Later in the evening, Deputy Alexandra Davis was on patrol when the victim approached her and told her one of the suspects was at the Tom Thumb Store on Stock Island. Deputy Roddy responded to the store and took Vargas III into custody. Today, Key West Police located Vargas Jr. in the vicinity of Kennedy Drive in Key West. Deputies Shawn Steele and Vicki Fleck responded and took him into custody as well. The birth certificates they accused the victim of taking were found in a backpack belonging to Vargas Jr.

Both men were booked into jail on charges of robbery and battery.