Florida Jewelry Heist Suspect: 'I Did It for Love'

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Some people will do anything for love, but a jewelry store heist? That's what one Central Florida man said he did. Now he's behind bars.

As 19-year-old Blake Levison was being taken to jail on Thursday for suspicion of armed robbery, he blurted out his motive, "I did it for love. I was going to move to Brazil. I'm engaged."

Love may have been his motive, but Police Chief Randall Scoggins said his victims at Gold in Art in downtown Mount Dora only felt fear on February 26th.

Police say surveillance video shows Levison and his high school buddy 20-year-old Christopher Lawrence holding up handguns in order to steal more than $76,000 worth of jewelry.

"Very bizarre. Very unusual. I don't know that I've ever seen a robbery quite like this in all my years," said Chief Scoggins.

Police say they have a full confession from Levison, who they described as very cooperative.

Levison was asked, “Would you have used that gun?” Levison responded, “It was a toy gun, it wasn't even a real gun.”

Whether that's true has yet to be determined, but the 19-year-old did apologize.

"All I can really say is I apologize to everyone there. The owner of the shop. Anybody that was involved," said Levison.

Source: MyFox Orlando