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STEVE THOMPSONThere was no cooperation in two separate attacks in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Finished shopping, 78-year-old Lee Snoke pushed his cart through Wal-Mart's parking lot about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and opened his trunk with the keyless remote.
Two men approached him from behind as he loaded his groceries into his car, and one of them demanded his wallet.
"You've got to be kidding me," Snoke recalled he said before he noticed what looked like a handgun under the man's shirt. When he saw the gun's barrel pointing at him, Snoke still didn't give in.
"I scooted real quick up to the driver's side, slammed the door, locked it, put the key in the ignition, started the car and took off," he said.
About 24 hours later, a man approached 48-year-old Valencia Pounders in the same parking lot. He pointed a large black handgun at her and demanded her purse.
"No!" she yelled as he shoved the gun toward her face and grabbed her. She threw the purse in the air to the other side of the car.
The man knocked her down and ran to grab it. "Help! That guy took my purse!" she screamed as she got up. She chased the man to a nearby Hess Station where he jumped into a car driven by another man.
Pounders and at least two bystanders got into cars and sped after them. They didn't catch up to the men, but authorities soon made arrests.
Pasco County sheriff's deputies arrested two men in connection with Wednesday night's robbery. Pounders' black purse with lots of zipper compartments was not recovered. Neither was the gun.
Daniel Michael Clancy, 21, of 15922 Homewood Lane in Hudson was being held without bail in the county jail Thursday. Matthew Allen Skelly, 22, of 7031 Tanglewood Drive in New Port Richey was being held on $30,500 bail.
Both face charges including armed robbery. Authorities say Clancy held the gun and Skelly did the driving in Wednesday night's robbery. Authorities would not comment on whether the two men were suspects in Tuesday's robbery.
Both men have lengthy arrest records that include burglary, battery and weapons charges, state records show. Skelly has spent more than a year in prison.
Spokesman Kevin Doll said the Sheriff's Office does not recommend that people resist armed thieves.
"Nothing you have on you is worth your life," he said.
So why did Snoke and Pounders risk theirs?
"I know that's what they say to do, but it's the principal of the thing," Pounders said.
"Everything you could possibly imagine was in that purse . . . I wasn't handing it over, gun or no gun."
Snoke said the man who demanded his wallet, for one thing, just wasn't intimidating enough. "There was no authority in his voice," Snoke said.
"It was like he was scared to death or something. Right away I'm figuring this guy doesn't amount to much."
Besides, he said, "I worked for every d--- thing I got in my life. Nobody's going to take it from me if I can help it."
Asked what he would do differently if he could relive Tuesday's robbery, Snoke said he wished he had grabbed the 10-inch socket extension in his trunk.
"It's a nice piece of metal, it fits right in your hand," he said. "I could have come around and just smacked that guy in the face with that thing."
Asked what she might do if robbed again, Pounders responded similarly.
"I'd kick him . . ." she said. "I'll never let my purse go again. They're going to have to knock me out to get it away from me. I'm going to hang on to it."
- Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com