Date: November 2, 2026
Prepared by: Jake Arthur, Public Information Officer
Email: PIO@flaglersheriff.com
Release #: 2026 – 239
On Halloween night, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Miami man who robbed a Palm Coast gas station while wearing a clown mask and pretending to have a weapon.
At approximately 6:22 p.m. on Oct. 31, FCSO deputies responded to a reported robbery at the Amoco gas station at State Road 100 and Interstate 95.
Moments earlier, a man walked into the store wearing a clown mask, with one hand hidden inside a black bag. He went behind the counter, pointed the bag at the clerk as if a weapon was inside, and told her to “open the cash register, and don’t be a hero.”
Believing he had a weapon, the clerk opened the register, raised her hands, and stepped back. He grabbed the cash and the register drawer with his bare hands and drove away in a silver Chevrolet Traverse. Deputies alerted surrounding agencies to watch for the SUV.
At approximately 7:39 p.m., license plate reader cameras alerted a St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office K-9 deputy that the Traverse had been reported stolen in Highland Beach. The deputy stopped the SUV in St. Augustine. The driver, Adrian Rafael Castano, 18, of Miami, was wearing the same clothes as the robber, and had cash and the register drawer from the Amoco in the vehicle. A mask matching the one from the robbery was also in plain view.
Surveillance video from the gas station shows Castano walk into the store before the robbery around 6:06 p.m., talk briefly with the clerk, and leave without buying anything. He then waited in the parking lot in a silver Chevrolet Traverse until the other customers left before committing the robbery.
Detectives also determined that Castano has the same hand tattoo seen on surveillance video as the robber grabs the cash.
Adrian Castano (SJSO mugshot)
The SUV had been reported stolen from Highland Beach in Palm Beach County. Castano told detectives his day started at the Hard Rock Casino in Miami, and that he knew the SUV was stolen when he took it and drove it north on Interstate 95, hundreds of miles away, before stopping at the Amoco. He denied taking any money.
“This clown robbed a hard-working clerk who believed he was armed, so putting this clown in handcuffs on Halloween was a real treat,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “But here’s what should bother everyone. We could have prevented this robbery if the state had not ordered all LPRs on state roads removed. Before the state order, our technology would have alerted our deputies of the stolen vehicle and allowed us to catch him before he robbed the store. Had our LPRs been still up the clerk would never have been terrorized by having to face a man she thought was armed. License plate readers solve crimes and prevent crimes. De-tooling the police doesn’t make anyone safer; it just gives criminals the ability to prey on residents and our business workers. Thank you to Sheriff Hardwick for keeping his cameras up despite calls to take them down throughout St. Johns County and to his deputies for the quick apprehension of this dirtbag.”
Detectives arrested Castano for robbery. He is being held at the St. Johns County Jail on a $100,000 bond on the Flagler County charge, and he also faces charges in St. Johns County.
Castano’s previous arrests include aggravated battery on a person 65 or older, battery on a person 65 or older, robbery, simple assault, grand theft of a motor vehicle, operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license, and giving a false ID to law enforcement.
