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Police On Hunt For Prescription Snatching Bandit

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

TAMPA - TAMPA - Tampa police is advising people visiting doctors' offices and clinics to be wary of a tall man with a thin build who might try to snatch their prescription medications.

The bandit has robbed two people of their prescriptions since Sept. 24, Tampa police said. He also tried to steal cash from a doctor's office but was unsuccessful.

"He's not armed that we know of," Tampa police Cpl. Jared Douds said Wednesday. "There's not a particular type of prescription he seems to be going after."

The man appears to catch patients off-guard as they are leaving the offices or clinics, Douds said. He suggested people "keep their wits about them" and check their prescription bottles or other paperwork while still indoors or in their cars.

Police described the man as white and in his 20s or 30s. He is about 6 feet 1 inch and weighs between 150 to 180 pounds. One witness said he had brown hair and blue eyes.

A witness told police the man had sores and scabs on his forearms, while another told police the man wore a large bandage on his face and wrist.

He last struck Friday at a clinic at 5705 N. Habana Ave., where he approached a patient in the parking lot and snatched the patient's bag of medications, police said. The patient chased the man, who jumped into a black pickup truck and escaped, police said.

He first robbed someone in the same manner at a medical office at 4730 N. Habana Ave. on Sept. 24, police said. The man had offered to buy another patient's medication on the property earlier that day, police said.

On Oct. 4, the man entered a doctor's office at 1947 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and demanded to see a physician, police said. After the clerk refused, the man demanded cash. The clerk did not provide any, and he left.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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