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Deadly Purse-Snatching Case Defendant Is Charged Again

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By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: January 24, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Lisa Michelle Dillard, a woman charged as an accomplice in a fatal purse-snatching in November, is accused of snatching a purse weeks earlier.

After seeing news reports about the mugging and subsequent death of Linda Roma at a TJ Maxx in Hudson, someone recognized Dillard as the woman who snatched her purse Nov. 8 at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Port Richey, according to an arrest report.

The victim recognized Dillard from a mug shot on the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Web site, the report states.

Dillard, 39, of 16916 Bachmann Ave., Hudson, is in Land O' Lakes Jail, charged as an accessory after the fact in the Roma case.

On Thursday, Port Richey police arrested Dillard at the jail on a misdemeanor petty theft charge. She is being held without bail.

On Nov. 12, Roma, 62, and her daughter, Jennifer, were leaving TJ Maxx when a man approached them and tried to steal the elder woman's purse. Roma fought back and was flung to the ground and hit her head on the pavement. She died the next day.

Steven Anthony Cruz, 38, has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the purse-snatching death.

Investigators say Dillard drove the getaway car. She and Cruz were arrested two days later near County Line Road and U.S. 19. Pasco detectives used surveillance video taken from a nearby Wal-Mart to find the pair. The video, taken about an hour after Roma's death, shows Cruz, Dillard and a man enter the store. It also shows Cruz trying to use one of Roma's credit cards at the jewelry counter, authorities say.

Cruz is being held without bail.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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