Florida's Bad Date Burglar Busted
A Casanova con artist who took a woman on a date to Applebee's while his accomplice robbed her home has been arrested.
Police in Coral Springs, Fla., used surveillance video and online detective work to track down the mysterious lothario who went by the name "Florenciano Valentino."
" Valentino" was actually Anthony Maldonado, 18, of Miami Gardens, Fla.
Investigators have not identified Maldonado's accomplice.
Maldonado charmed his 18-year-old date at a party and invited her to lunch at an Applebee's on Feb. 25.
Police said after she agreed and Maldonado learned her parents were out of town, Maldonado coordinated with his accomplice to rob the family home.
Maldonado's partner in crime broke in through a window and stole more $5,000 worth of electronics, including an iPad and laptop computer, police said.
As the young woman waited at the restaurant, Maldonado and his accomplice were captured on surveillance cameras exploring the outside of her house before Maldonado drove off to meet her. While at the restaurant, Maldonado borrowed his date's iPhone to keep contact with his partner as the two ate.
When his partner said he had finished burglarizing the home, Maldonado asked to use his date's iPhone one last time.
He stepped outside to take a call and never returned, leaving the woman without her phone but stuck with the check.
Police tracked down the number Maldonado called to a prepaid cell phone registered to the name "Thomas L."
"We think he got to know her and found the opportunity and took advantage of her," Joe McHugh, the public information officer at the Coral Springs Police Department, told ABCNews.com. "It was a well organized con."
Maldonado is charged with residential burglary and grand theft.
He was released on $4,500 bond.
ABC News' Gillian Mohney contributed to this report.