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The CVS pharmacy on Howland Boulevard in Deltona was the target July 22 of a cross-dressing robber with a green wig, black lipstick and a handbag.DELTONA -- A cross-dressing thief claiming to have a bomb failed in an attempt to rob a Deltona drug store of its prescription pills after the pharmacist refused to give him what he craved in July.
The would-be-robber ran from the CVS pharmacy, 2187 Howland Blvd., empty-handed just before 6 a.m. and managed to get away just prior to the arrival of responding Volusia County Sheriff's deputies. The bizarre robbery attempt comes in as No. 82 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012.
"Witnesses said the suspect -- they weren't sure if it was a man or a woman -- claimed that their children were being held hostage," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "The suspect also claimed to have a bomb and threatened to blow up the store if the prescription drugs weren't handed over."
The thief flashed a cardboard box from a handbag, but the pharmacist said it didn't have any wires or electronics and just appeared to be a plain box, so he ordered the robber out of the store.
"Very weird" was the pharmacist's response when asked by a Sheriff's Office telecommunicator what the robber looked like, Davidson said.
"Witnesses reported that the suspect appeared to be a cross-dressing man, but also said the robber had feminine-looking features," the sheriff's spokesman said, adding the robber appeared to be Hispanic and approximately 30-years-old and 5 feet 9, tall, with a thin build. He was wearing glasses and black lipstick. The clothing description included blue jeans, a green, long sleeve shirt and a green, shoulder-length wig.
Deputies rushing to the crime scene arrived within three minutes of the 5:55 a.m. 9-1-1 call from the pharmacist and began setting up a perimeter and launching a search with the assistance of a Sheriff's Office helicopter and K-9 unit, but the cross dresser slipped away.
Top 100 Countdown Recap:
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