Victim spots suspect boarding bus in Tarpon

Police stop the bus on U.S. 19 and arrest the man in connection with the robbery of the woman.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- Police arrested a man Thursday after the woman he is suspected of robbing spotted him getting on a bus.

The 66-year-old woman, whose name was not released, saw Howard Edward Wallace, 46, get on a bus near the Kmart at U.S. 19 and Tarpon Avenue, Tarpon Springs police Detective Robert Faugno said. She said the man robbed her a week before at her home in the Tarpon Shores mobile home park.

She called police, who tracked down the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus and stopped it south of Klosterman Road, he said.

Police found Wallace on the bus and arrested him. He was charged with kidnapping and strong-armed robbery. He also was arrested on three warrants, one for failure to appear on charges related to an altered identification card, and two for violation of probation related to burglary and grand theft charges.

He was being held Friday at the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $40,513 bail.

Police said he broke into the woman's home early in the morning on Nov. 9. They said he forced her to give him all her money and jewelry. The woman was uninjured, but the intruder held his hand over her mouth while leading her around the house, they said.

The man wanted her car, but she did not have one, police said. The man left, and police were not able to track him down immediately.

Wallace's address was listed as a room at the Days Inn motel on U.S. 19.

-- Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.

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