Police say ride offer ends in robbery; two arrested
By Times Staff Writer
Published August 24, 2004
CLEARWATER - A man who accepted a ride from two men pretending to be good Samaritans on Sunday afternoon was robbed, choked with a jumper cable and pistol-whipped by the men.
Daniel Ellis, 18, escaped from the men, called police and gave them a description of a red car. Responding officers stopped the car and arrested the two, identified as Ricky Tisdale, 41, and Anthony Behrens, 22, both of Clearwater. Both were booked into the Pinellas County Jail on charges of armed robbery and false imprisonment.
Clearwater police said Ellis of Largo accepted a ride from the two men, then was robbed near S Fort Harrison Avenue and Turner Street just after 2 p.m. Ellis was sitting in the front passenger seat when Behrens, who was in the back seat, wrapped a jumper cable around his throat and choked him, arrest reports state. Tisdale then hit Ellis in the face with a pistol before taking $211 from him, arrest reports state. Officers recovered the money when they arrested Tisdale and Behrens, police said. Tisdale, who is unemployed and has been arrested on more than 40 charges in Pinellas County since 1988, was held at the Pinellas County Jail on Monday in lieu of $110,000 bail. Behrens, who works as a telemarketer, was held at the jail in lieu of $110,500 bail. He also was charged with violating the conditions of his driver's license restrictions.
