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70-Year-Old Thwarts Robbery Try

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 24, 2008

BRADENTON - A 70-year-old woman said she chased away a man trying to rob her Sunday after telling him off.

After buying some crackers, Joann Starcher of Bradenton was walking to her car at the Save-A-Lot store on 5631 14th St. W. That's when Alberto Chelen Maroquin, 21, popped up between two vehicles and demanded her money, deputies said.

Starcher replied, "You can go to hell in a handbasket."

Maroquin backed away as she walked toward him, Starcher said, then held his pants up and ran.

Starcher followed him in her car and called 911. Deputies found Maroquin and arrested him on an attempted robbery charge.

"If somebody does something like that to you and you're able to do something about it, you should do it," Starcher said. "Maybe that's not the healthy thing to do or the safe thing to do."

A staff report

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