A 45-year-old Enfield man is facing a stack of felony charges after Wethersfield police say they tracked him down through an unlikely combination of clues: a loving TikTok comment, surveillance photos of distinctive eyebrows, and DNA swabbed off a stolen car's steering wheel. Francisco Perez was arrested on Sept. 22 in connection with an armed robbery at a Motel 6 on Silas Deane Highway, where two men allegedly vaulted the front counter, forced a clerk into a back office at gunpoint, and made off with cash, a cellphone and a wristwatch.
According to WFSB, the clerk was assaulted during the heist and suffered minor injuries but declined medical treatment. The suspects then fled in a white 2017 Hyundai Elantra that had previously been reported stolen out of Hartford, the station reported. Reports on the date of the robbery vary: WFSB placed it on July 27, 2025, while the WTNH reported it happened on June 27, 2025, and the Hartford Courant described the robbery as occurring in July. All three accounts agree the time was roughly 10:16 p.m.
Cellphone Data and a Stolen Car Point Toward Enfield
The Courant's account describes the same basic sequence as WFSB's: two suspects entering the lobby, jumping the counter and demanding cash before the clerk was taken into a back room. Per the seed reporting on the case, police say more than $10,000 in cash and devices was taken overall. A second suspect in the robbery has not been identified and remains at large, according to the same reporting.
Investigators say Perez's cellphone was active in the Hartford area around 9 p.m. before the robbery, went quiet during the window of the crime, and then resumed activity shortly afterward. A Flock Safety camera is said to have captured the stolen Hyundai Elantra near Cemetery Road and Spencer Street in Manchester at approximately 10:20 p.m. that night, with Perez's cellphone activity reportedly corresponding to the car's movement after the robbery. Amtrak police later recovered the Elantra abandoned on a railroad right of way in Hartford.
Open-Source Sleuthing and a TikTok Comment
Detectives also leaned on old-fashioned social media digging. A Wethersfield detective located a TikTok profile belonging to a woman through open-source research, and found a comment posted to her profile in Spanish that read, “Love you always, beautiful, my love. One hundred percent Puerto Rico.” Photographs tied to that online trail reportedly showed a Hispanic male with groomed, manicured eyebrows resembling the robbery suspect, along with the same man wearing a dark Nike hooded sweatshirt matching the clothing described by the victim. Danbury police reportedly told investigators the man in those photos appeared to be Perez.
Police databases are said to have produced Perez's driver's license and cellphone number, allowing detectives to connect the dots between the online images, the phone records and the car's movements. The robbery suspect was described as a medium-complected male of average height and weight with brown eyes and groomed eyebrows, wearing a dark Nike hooded sweatshirt with a red swoosh and red drawstrings, gray sweatpants, black athletic sneakers, two-toned dark gloves and a black cloth mask.
Search of Enfield Home Turns Up Handgun and Suspected Cocaine
Police searched a home in Enfield owned by Perez and say they recovered a loaded, black Smith & Wesson M&P .40-caliber handgun along with a container of suspected cocaine. Investigators say that handgun matched the appearance of the weapon allegedly used to strike the motel clerk in the head during the robbery. Police also obtained samples of Perez's DNA as part of the investigation.
DNA swabbed from the stolen Elantra's steering wheel reportedly provided what investigators described as extremely strong statistical support that Perez had contributed DNA to that surface, even though he was not the owner of the vehicle. An arrest warrant is said to identify Perez as suspect number one based on the physical matches, the clothing, the handgun found in his home and his apparent knowledge of the motel safe's insider code.
Charges and Next Court Date
Perez was charged with first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, second-degree assault with a firearm and second-degree larceny, according to WFSB. He was released on a $500,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court in New Britain on Oct. 13, per court records. The second suspect involved in the robbery has not been named and remains at large as the investigation continues.
