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Pasco Deputies Seek 4 After Hudson Home Invasion

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Pasco County deputies are looking for four men who broke into a home.

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By LISA DAVIS and CHRIS URSO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2008

Updated: 07/10/2008 06:02 pm

HUDSON- A dresser drawer attached to her wrist by handcuffs, Norma Neumann stepped outside her mobile home and spotted a neighbor Thursday.

"Robert, Robert, I just got robbed," she yelled.

"When?" Robert Thomason asked.

"Just now. They went out and went through the woods," Neumann said.

That's when Thomason sprung into action.

"We took off after them but they got away," he said.

Neighbors told authorities they saw four men running with guns from near the home at 15539 Joshua Lane. The suspects escaped in a large tan four-door vehicle, Pasco County sheriff's officials said.

Neumann had returned home from a doctor's appointment just before noon and was sitting in her living room when a man, whose face was masked with a bandana, appeared from her back door, according to sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll.

The intruder ordered her into her bedroom and handcuffed her to a dresser. He then stole guns, possibly knives and other valuables, Doll said. Neumann, 63, wasn't injured.

"She did have some heart palpitations, we think, afterwards … due to her fright," Doll said, adding that Neumann declined medical treatment.

Neighbor Robin Hampshire said Neumann was "very shaken up" over the ordeal.

Neumann's husband, Ralph, wasn't home at the time of the robbery. Hampshire, who has known the couple for years, said she didn't understand how anyone could do this to them.

"They're very nice people," she said. "…It was totally odd out here."

Paramedics had to cut the handcuffs off Neumann's wrists.

Late Thursday afternoon, deputies were still searching by air and ground with the help of dogs.

The canines tracked a scent that abruptly ended near some power lines, which is where authorities believe the car was waiting.

"We do believe that they are armed and dangerous," Doll said. "…She [Neumann] did see one of them load one of the handguns before they left."

There's no other description of the suspects – other than they could be in their teens or 20s. Deputies are trying to figure out why they preyed on Neumann.

"We are looking into whether or not somehow or some way that the victim knew the suspects, because only one came in," Doll said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the sheriff's office at 1-800-854-2862.

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

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