Suspect captured in connection to High Springs robberies

HIGH SPRINGS – A person suspected by local law enforcement to be involved in a string of armed robberies in the High Springs area last October was arrested last week.

Dennis Christopher Godden, 31, of High Springs, was arrested by Brevard County deputies in Cocoa Beach. He was then extradited back to Columbia County.

Information gathered by the High Springs Police Department (HSPD), including an anonymous tip and interviews with people who identified him as the culprit in a series of armed robberies, led to the arrest, said Antoine Sheppard, acting chief of the HSPD.

On Oct. 11 of last year, the Sunrise Food Star was robbed at gun point by an unknown white male. Two other robberies occurred shortly after in Ft. White and in unincorporated Alachua County.

Godden is currently in the Columbia County Jail. Alachua County, Columbia County and the City of High Springs have all filed identical charges of strong arm robbery and grand theft.

Godden will face three separate trials, one for each jurisdiction, Sheppard said. If he is convicted in all jurisdictions, he will most likely be given a concurrent sentence, he added. A concurrent sentence means Godden will serve time for each jurisdiction simultaneously, rather than having one jurisdiction’s sentence stacked on to the other.

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