Florida Man Arrested After Trying to Steal Thousands of Dollars From Coin-Operated Laundry Machines

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — A Brevard County man has been arrested after an alleged plot to steal thousands of dollars from coin-operated machines at a local laundromat, according to the sheriff's office.

In an arrest report, deputies said they received a call about a burglary at the “Port St. John Laundromat” along West Avenue on June 17, just after 5 a.m.

The caller reportedly told deputies that a man – later identified as Jeffrey Duffey, 39 – had broken into coin machines located in the “employee-only” offices.

But when deputies arrived, Duffey was no longer there.

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However, MPs said they did find evidence that Duffey entered the laundromat and opened the locked “employee only” door with a crowbar.

That door led to a restricted crawl space, which was typically used for repairs to laundry equipment, the affidavit shows.

“Once inside this restricted area, Duffey was able to access the ceiling, traverse the rafters of the building, and descend into the locked “employee” office, which concealed the rear doors to the coin-operated machines,” the affidavit reads.

According to investigators, two coin-operated vending machines were broken into and all the money inside was stolen.

Additionally, deputies said Duffey was suspected of burglarizing the same laundromat at least three previous times — once on May 31, then again on June 9 and a third time on June 12.

Just hours after the June 17 burglary, officers found Duffey near the Space Coast Flea Market and brought him in for questioning.

Investigators said Duffey initially claimed he was home with his girlfriend at the time of the burglary, and that he was already on probation for robbing a Chevron gas station down the street.

“(Duffey claims) he didn't commit the Chevron burglary for the money, because he had a personal vendetta against the company's owners because he 'hates those people,'” the affidavit states. “At one point, he worked for the company, and they ripped him off, so he robbed them.”

Asked about the similarity and proximity of the Chevron burglary to the laundromat burglaries, Duffey reportedly told MPs that the modus operandi was “not uncommon,” MPs added.

Duffey then pointed to another recent burglary at a local “casino” at 672 West Ave. — a location near the Chevron and the laundromat — that occurred in January, where the culprit used similar methods, detectives said.

While Duffey suggested that the suspect arrested in this investigation could be connected to the laundromat burglaries, deputies found there was no connection between the suspect and the laundromat burglaries. was There were no suspects in the case because it had not been solved.

Duffey then launched into a tirade about how he could have carried out the crimes, becoming “gleeful and boastful” as he did so, deputies said.

“Duffey then stated that if he had committed these crimes, he would never have been caught on surveillance camera,” the affidavit reads. “He then explained that he knew how to disable most surveillance systems and that he would have tampered with the businesses’ cameras, since most operate on Wi-Fi.”

Deputies also noted that the laundromat's Wi-Fi router had been tampered with during the three previous burglaries.

He then invited deputies to search his home, and they found a “large quantity” of $20 bills in his nightstand drawer.

According to the affidavit, Duffey's girlfriend later told deputies she had not seen him home earlier that morning, and surveillance footage showed Duffey at the laundromat.

In total, Duffey stole about $5,000 from the laundromat's coin-operated machines, severely damaging the equipment, deputies say.

As a result, Duffey was arrested Friday and faces charges of robbery, three counts of burglary and two counts of possession of burglary tools with intent to use. He is being held on $77,500 bail.

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