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Witnesses lead police to suspects
Robbers were identified by one victim and a neighbor, Tarpon Springs police say.
By ROBIN STEIN
Published February 14, 2006
TARPON SPRINGS - Two robbers struck too close to home, police said, because their victims knew one and a neighbor identified the other. The bonus for police: One of the robbers admitting to mugging an 83-year-old woman a few days earlier.
The short-lived string of crimes ended several hours after the two allegedly burst into an Orange Street apartment, threatened the residents with what appeared to be a handgun, and made off with $300 in cash.
Eric M. White, 20, and Traci L. Dallaire, 18, were at their apartment at 312 E Orange St. a little after 3 p.m. Sunday, they told Tarpon Springs police, when two young men kicked in the front door.
One of the young men showed what appeared to be a gun while the other man kicked White in the chest and demanded money, police said.
The men left with the money, but not before White realized that the man who had kicked him had been a classmate at Tarpon Springs High School. He told police it was Richard Hunnewell, 20.
When police checked the area for witnesses, they said, a neighbor told them he had recognized the second robber and gave officers his name: Jason M. Tallent, 15.
About 3 a.m. Monday, police arrested Hunnewell in his room at the Sun Bay Motel. Officers said they recovered a black pellet handgun he had used in the robbery.
When Tallent was arrested at his house on Forest Lawn Court, police said he also confessed to participating in last week's mugging of 83-year-old Dorothy A. Zimmerman.
Just after 3 p.m. on Feb. 5, Zimmerman was at the entrance of Green Dolphin Condominium complex on her way back from an ice cream run to Winn-Dixie when Tallent and another teenager accosted her, police said.
Tallent told police the second suspect in the mugging was Landon K. Lindiakos, 15, of Anclote Landings Drive. He was also arrested early Monday morning.
Tallent and Lindiakos were charged with strong-armed robbery, a second-degree felony, and were taken to the Pinellas County Juvenile Detention Center.
Tallent and Hunnewell are also charged with armed home invasion robbery, a first-degree felony. Hunnewell was booked into the Pinellas County Jail.
[Last modified February 14, 2006, 02:45:31]
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