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Woman's home ransacked in search of drugs

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published January 23, 2007

CLEARWATER - It was 7 a.m. and Mary Ford rolled over in bed, not yet ready to start her Monday.

Half asleep, the grandmother of two faintly heard a noise, something, but she couldn't make it out.

Seconds later, she bolted up as about six masked men rushed into her bedroom and pointed guns in her face.

"Where are the drugs?" they shouted.

Ford, 54, told them she had none. She pleaded.

"I just can't stand that whining," one of them warned her.

One of the intruders bound her hands with a phone cord and stood guard. The others ransacked the house at Myrtle Avenue and Marshall Street. They demanded her cell phone and car keys. They scoured her car, but didn't steal it.

"They acted like men who knew what they were doing," she said.

From her bed, Ford looked to the ceiling, heavenward, she recalled later. She closed her eyes, stayed absolutely still.

"Oh God, please," she whispered.

The men left, promising to return, Ford said. She didn't move until she was sure they were gone. After freeing her hands, she ran to a next-door neighbor and called 911.

Later, still in her pajamas, she sat in her neighbor's driveway and watched crime scene technicians examine evidence. She said she believes the robbers must have mistaken her house for someone else's. One of her two adult sons occasionally stays at the home, but neither of them do any drugs, she said. All she had was prescription medication for her breast cancer.

Investigators weren't sure why the intruders broke into Ford's home, spokesman Wayne Shelor said. Police had no recent calls to the house. And because the men wore masks, investigators did not have good descriptions.

Sitting on a wooden chair in the driveway, Ford held her head. A tear escaped her eye. She said she fears the men will keep their promise and come back.

"Nothing is up in there," she said. "Hopefully they saw that."

Fast Facts:

To help

Anyone with information about the home invasion robbery is asked to call Clearwater police at 562-4242.

[Last modified January 22, 2007, 20:42:11]