WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – What began as a reported armed robbery at a poker game on Wednesday morning quickly unraveled into a case of false reporting, leading to the arrest of a Winter Haven man.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11th, from 36-year-old Marc Edwin Rodney. Rodney claimed he had been robbed at gunpoint by a known acquaintance during a poker game.
Deputies promptly located and detained the individual accused by Rodney for questioning. However, the detained man presented a starkly different account of the evening. He alleged that Rodney had lost money gambling and that an earlier altercation had occurred when he pointed out Rodney’s mounting losses, stating Rodney had pushed him. Importantly, the man was not found to be in possession of a firearm.
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As detectives delved deeper, they located a witness who had also been present at the poker game. The witness corroborated the detained man’s story, confirming that Marc Edwin Rodney had indeed lost money throughout the night. Furthermore, the witness revealed that Rodney had threatened to contact law enforcement and falsely claim he had been robbed.
The investigation took another turn when detectives re-interviewed Marc Edwin Rodney. His new statements conflicted with his initial report, and several other details he provided were subsequently proven false.
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As a result of the inconsistent and ultimately false information provided, Marc Edwin Rodney was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. He faces charges of Providing a False Report of a Felony, Giving False Information to a Law Enforcement Officer, and Battery.
Authorities noted that this is not Rodney’s first encounter with such charges. He has been charged with providing false information to law enforcement on at least two prior occasions, highlighting a pattern of behavior that, as a sheriff’s office spokesperson quipped, “is clearly not a strategy that is working out for him.”
Rodney was transported to the Polk County Jail after his arrest.
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