Background: The InterContinental hotel located on Chopin Plaza in Miami, Florida (Google Maps). Inset: Sarah Jean Tavano (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation).
Authorities accuse a Florida woman of accompanying men back to their hotel rooms under the pretense of physical intimacy just to drug and rob them and then flee.
Sarah Jean Tavano, 39, faces several charges, including strong-arm robbery, organized fraud, second-degree grand theft, and burglary of an occupied dwelling. She has been in the custody of Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation since Sunday.
On Dec. 12, a man was sitting alone at a table at Sugar nightclub in Miami after his friends left, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. A woman wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, and black flip-flops approached him, and, after at least one other encounter, she "agreed to accompany him back to his hotel room for what he believed would be consensual sexual activity."
The woman — alleged to have been Tavano — and the man entered his room at the InterContinental hotel located on Chopin Plaza right along the city's waterfront. He "consumed a drink with the female and shortly thereafter began to feel ill, experiencing sudden nausea, weakness, and dizziness, before losing consciousness," the affidavit said.
"The victim reported blacking out and not regaining consciousness" until about 7:25 the morning of Dec. 13. When he searched his room, he realized his gold Rolex Day-Date 36 mm wristwatch — valued at about $38,000 — was missing along with about $1,500 in cash, according to the affidavit.
The man called the police and gave them the serial number of his watch, telling them "he does not normally experience these symptoms from casual alcohol consumption." Over the course of the next week, he detailed "prolonged symptoms of nausea, extreme weakness, dizziness, and vomiting that persisted," stating that he believed "he had been drugged by the female offender."
Investigators determined that the watch had indeed been stolen and pawned at a local store. The affidavit added that investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the hotel and "immediately recognized the female as Sarah Tavano, whom [police] suspected from two prior investigations."
As authorities tell it, Tavano had a modus operandi — "male victims were brought back to hotel rooms under the pretense of consensual sex, consumed drinks, lost consciousness, and later discovered property stolen."
More than a month later, On Jan. 18, just after midnight, security at Sugar nightclub told detectives that their suspect was back there. Authorities said she was "already known to have probable cause for arrest in a separate case." Officers detained her, allegedly finding in her possession suspected cocaine, suspected the drug Seroquel — which can cause fainting — and a bottle of Jagermeister "containing a cloudy liquid with visible powder residue settled at the bottom."
The investigator noted that "the presence of prescription medication mixed into alcoholic beverages is consistent with methods used to incapacitate victims and render them unconscious."
Tavano was arrested and booked into jail.