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There's no such thing as a free breakfast

A man ate at a hotel where he wasn't staying and threw hot coffee at a manager. He's jailed.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published February 9, 2007

DUNEDIN - Three times, authorities say, the tall, bald man with the pale mustache helped himself to the free breakfast the Holiday Inn Express sets out for hotel guests.

There was just one problem.

He wasn't a guest.

So on Tuesday, when he returned as hotel staff was setting up for breakfast, the manager approached him.

In response, Armstead Holt Hudnell, 45, of Tarpon Springs, threw a cup of hot coffee on the manager, according to Pinellas County sheriff's officials.

After a brief struggle, authorities said, Hudnell broke free and ran out of the hotel in the 900 block of Broadway.

The coffee got on the manager's shirt and pants but he was not seriously injured, sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said.

Deputy Michael Pulham investigated the assault and retrieved a picture of Hudnell from a surveillance camera, Bordner said. The deputy conducted surveillance near the hotel the next couple of mornings.

On Thursday, Pulham saw Hudnell around 8 a.m. on the Pinellas Trail near the entrance of the hotel, authorities said. The deputy arrested him on one count each of defrauding an innkeeper and simple battery, both misdemeanors.

Hudnell was uncooperative during his arrest and booking at the Pinellas County Jail, Bordner said.

It was unknown what Hudnell, who gave an address in Tarpon Springs, was doing in Dunedin or why he went to the hotel to eat.

Bordner said that deputies could not verify that the 212 Palm Canyon address in Tarpon Springs that Hudnell gave as his home was a real address.

Hudnell was being held at the county jail Thursday with bail set at $500.

Jose Cardenas can be reached at 727 445-4224 or jcardenas@stpimes.com.

[Last modified February 8, 2007, 22:39:29]