Pawn broker taken into custody this afternoon

Earlier this evening, Robert Benton “Ben” Ellis, a local pawn broker, was taken into custody, charged with three-counts of dealing in stolen property, then booked into the St Johns County Detention Facility where he is being held in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Ellis, who is 56-year-old, has been under investigation for months, detectives reported. On July 14, 2015, after accumulating sufficient evidence to obtain a search warrant, a mobile command center was dispatched to the premises.

Historic City News reported that a two-day inventory was underway at E-Z Money Pawn Shop Inc on US-1 South of St Augustine.

Marked patrol vehicles and a gaggle of officers pored over every piece of the shop’s inventory; removing it to the parking area, cataloging and checking for identifying marks and serial numbers, then comparing the information against records of reported stolen property.

Ellis, who lives at 113 Hartwood Road in St Augustine, was not arrested at the time of the search.