Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Drud addiction leads to Robbery?

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

In going over an article in the St. Pete Times website, it really stands out as it shows the despair that a severe drug addiction can cause...

When the pawnshop refused to take the computer because it was stolen, the defendant panicked. She needed money. She needed a fix. The suspect, 24, was desperate for her next oxycodone pill.

So desperate, that she robbed a bank Monday afternoon with her 3-year-old son in tow.

The woman saw a Regions Bank on State Road 52 in Hudson and pulled over. She left her son in the car. She stepped inside the bank and wrote her message at the withdrawal slips counter.

"I don't even remember what it said. It's not a blur, it's a blank," Lopez said Tuesday behind a glass window in jail. "This is the biggest mistake I've ever made in my entire life. When I walked in, I didn't think I was going to do it, but then something, I don't know — it's not like I planned it or anything."

The woman gave the note to the teller. That's when the manager told her that her son was standing at the bank's window. The suspect went outside, scooped him up, grabbed the money and left.

Scared and crying, she proceeded to call her sister from the road.

"I just robbed a bank. I don't know why," the defendant recalled sobbing to her sister. Fresh tears welled as she remembered the call.

Her sister begged her to bring the boy to her house. The suspect took him there, gave him a kiss and said "I'll see you later."

A few minutes later, a Pasco deputy pulled the suspect over in the silver Chrysler minivan matching the description of the bank robber's vehicle. She called her husband, a truck driver who is on the road for weeks at a time.

"Baby, I just robbed a bank," she told him. "I'm about to be pulled over."

At first, he thought it was a joke. Then he realized the seriousness of the situation: "They're going to take the kids," he told her.

Now her son and two other children — a 17-month-old son and a newborn daughter — are staying with the suspect's mother, who is shocked by what happened.

The defendant said her family was in the dark as she battled addiction for the past few years. She had been prescribed pills for severe back pain, but when the medication ran out, she bought more pills anywhere she could.

With her husband on the road so often, she was raising their young children largely on her own in Tampa. She struggled. The susoect claimed the oxycodone helped her cope. She would wait until the children were asleep to take a pill. She said it was the only way to keep from feeling sick.

"I'm ashamed of it. I knew what it could do to my life. I didn't want anyone to see — especially my children," she said.

Yet the suspect said she wanted to get clean. She drove to her mother's west Pasco home Sunday night intending to start that process. But come Monday morning she again needed more prescription drugs.

"If you have a problem with oxy, get off of them before it's too late," she said Tuesday. "If you come across them and don't know what they are, don't experiment with them because it's not worth it."

The suspect was charged with robbery, child neglect and burglary of a residence for the stolen laptop computer. She remained Tuesday in the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of a $22,000 bail.

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a drug charge, burglary or violent crime? Then contact the Clearwater criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced Clearwater criminal defense lawyers, please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.