TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Deputies: Ex-Worker Robs New Port Richey Pizzeria To Buy Drugs

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2009

Alexander Piller

NEW PORT RICHEY - He did it for drugs.

That's what Alexander Dennis Piller, 20, told deputies Sunday night as they arrested him on charges of robbing the pizzeria he was fired from for being a no-show a couple days earlier, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say Piller told them he was at a party Sunday and wanted more drugs, alcohol and cigarettes so he followed the advice of "Mirtle," a local stripper he recently met who told him to rob Morty's Pizza.

So just before 9:30 p.m., Piller, with a gray tank top wrapped around his face, walked through the pizzeria's back door at 7534 Massachusetts Ave. and headed straight for the cash register, stealing $115, according to a report. When Piller went toward the back door, former co-worker Daniel Mendelsohn tried to intervene by grabbing Piller, the report states, but Piller stopped him in his tracks by zapping him with a stun gun.

While Piller tried to make a run for it, he dropped money on the kitchen floor, according to the report. Another worker, Daniel Lane, used a dough cart to trip the intruder and chased him outside. The two employees held Piller down until deputies arrived, the report states.

Lane's hand was broken during the altercation.

Piller told deputies that before the robbery he had taken three or four Xanax pills, "an 80" – possibly an OxyContin 80 – and a 30 milligram Roxicodone pill, the report states. Piller also told deputies that if he had not been "wasted," he wouldn't have done the robbery.

The morning of the robbery, Piller woke up in his car and went to his mother's home to confess to her about his drug use, he told deputies. She apparently was upset and told him she didn't' want anything to do with him, the report states.

Hours later, deputies found two stun guns on Piller, including one disguised as a cell phone, according to the reports.

Piller, of 5518 River Road, is being held at Land O' Lakes Jail on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated battery. Bail is set at $70,000.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT