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Party Advice Costs Man Freedom

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By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: January 7, 2009

Alexander Piller

NEW PORT RICHEY - He says he did it for drugs.

Deputies say that's what Alexander Dennis Piller, 20, said Sunday night as they arrested him on charges of robbing the pizzeria he was fired from for being a no-show a couple of 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.

About 9:30 p.m., a man 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. Employee Daniel Mendelsohn tried to intervene by grabbing the man, the report states, but the robber zapped him with a stun gun.

As the robber tried to make a run for it, he dropped money on the kitchen floor, according to the report. Another worker, Daniel Lane, chased the intruder outside. The two employees held him until deputies arrived, the report states.

Lane's hand was broken during the altercation.

Piller told deputies that before the robbery he had taken several Xanax and other narcotic pills, the report states. Piller also told deputies that if he had not been "wasted," he wouldn't have done the robbery.

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 the 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.

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