Tampa robbery suspect arrested in South Tampa nail salon

Tampa, Florida - A suspect who police nailed inside a nail salon in South Tampa is accused of terrorizing people by breaking into their homes and robbing them at gunpoint while pretending to a be a police officer.

Sergeant Buddy Brogdon with the Tampa Police Department says they arrested 29 year old Adam Dooley several years ago on a weapons charge. He was convicted and served time in federal prison before being released. But now he's in trouble with the law again.

Sgt. Brogdon says, "He gets out of there. He comes out here. He gets a security guard badge and on the badge he blacks out the part that says security. It just says enforcement. You look at it and it looks very similar to a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) badge. He gets a holder around his neck and he gets a vest similar to the type our street anti-crime guys wear."

Police say Dooley not only tried to look like an officer but Brogdon says, "He breaks in this house yelling and screaming. He's got a gun. He's got a .45 caliber gun strapped to his side."

Investigators say Dooley tied up his victims with zip ties. Detectives suspected him in the crime and say some of his victims were able to identify him too.

Sgt. Brogdon says "The victims were going through the who's in jail at HCSO (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office) and there he is!"

Police got a tip that Dooley was driving his girlfriend's car and Sgt. Brogden says he actually spotted Dooley behind the wheel. "I'm driving northbound on Manhattan and I look over to my left and here's the car."

He says Dooley speed away as he called for back up. 

Quinn Quaglia remembers the large amount of police presence in the neighborhood near West Gandy Boulevard and S. Renellie Drive which is where Dooley was tracked down. She says, "A whole bunch of cops and a whole bunch of guns. They were racing and they blocked off all the streets."

After about 15 minutes of searching for Dooley police tracked him down at a nail salon.  Anh Tran is a nail technician at the salon who watched it all go down. She says Dooley rushed in like he was a customer. "He said how much for the nails and I said ten dollars!"

But Dooley didn't have time for a manicure because officers moved in and used a taser to take him down.

Sgt. Brogdon says Dooley confessed. He's facing a wide range of charges now for armed kidnapping, robbery/home invasion and impersonating a public officer just to name a few.