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Deputies Search For Heist Suspect

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By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2007

HOLIDAY - Pasco County sheriff's deputies were searching for a suspected robber who they believe hit the Crown Bank on Thursday morning - the same man they suspect held up a Wachovia branch on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as Kenneth Wayne Benzo, 47, had just been released on bail from Land O' Lakes Jail after his arrest Tuesday on a burglary charge from September 2005. He was questioned about the Wachovia robbery but wasn't charged in that case.

Authorities still suspect Benzo in that holdup, sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll said, but had not established probable cause for an arrest. A bank teller who was taken to see Benzo in custody did not recognize him, Doll said. Doll would not say whether any money from the Wachovia robbery has been recovered.

Deputies are more convinced that Benzo is the man who robbed the Crown Bank at 4714 Mile Stretch Drive in Holiday about 9:45 a.m. Thursday.

'We have the surveillance video,' Doll said. 'It looks like him. If we find him, we're arresting him.'

After the robbery of the Wachovia at 8994 State Road 52 in Port Richey, deputies created a perimeter around the bank and came upon Benzo in the Griffin Park neighborhood nearby.

While questioning him about that holdup, a detective realized Benzo was wanted in the 2005 burglary at a home in San Clemente East in Port Richey.
Benzo is accused of breaking a window, climbing inside the home at 6921 Alta Vista St. and stealing jewelry. In the process, he cut himself and wiped up blood with a napkin, but he left it behind in the house, a report states.

In June, Florida Department of Law Enforcement tests revealed that the DNA profile of the blood sample matched Benzo's.

A bondsman posted $10,000 bail for Benzo on Wednesday in the felony burglary case. But investigators think he didn't wait long to get in trouble again.

Doll said Benzo handed the Crown Bank teller a note demanding cash and took off with the money. He was last seen heading west on Mile Stretch Drive.

No weapon was seen, Doll said, and no one was injured.

The robber, described as 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, wore a Miami Hurricanes T-shirt and blue jeans.
Benzo has a long history of criminal convictions - including grand theft, burglary, trafficking stolen property and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon - and has been in and out of Florida prisons since 1990. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years on three Pasco cases - grand theft and two burglaries - in October 2005, records state.

For about a year, Benzo bounced back and forth between jails in Pasco and Escambia counties for court appearances, said state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

He finally landed in Apalachee Correctional Institution, West Unit in January, where he remained most of this year except for more court appearances on pending cases in Pasco and Escambia. He was taken to Land O' Lakes Jail on Oct. 5 and finished his prison sentence two days later.
Benzo stayed in the Pasco jail on a pending burglary-related charge until Oct. 12, when he bailed out. Five days later, he was back behind bars in connection with the 2005 San Clemente East burglary.

Anyone who has seen Benzo is asked to call the sheriff's office tips line at 1-800-706-2488.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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