Police warn about meeting for online sales following robbery

LAND O LAKES (FOX 13) - A Pasco county woman is robbed of her iPad, after using a popular phone app to set up the sale. And to make matters worse sheriff’s officials say the suspects had kids in their car during the whole thing.

“They probably thought they were safe where they were but that was not the case here,” said Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Doll.

Doll explains the victim of a strong arm robbery likely never saw the theft coming, he say it all played out at a Land O'Lakes apartment complex over the weekend. He says the victim was selling her iPad through an app called “Offer Up” and agreed to meet a potential buyer in the apartment parking lot where the victim lived.

“They were there to rob them they stole the iPad and fled,” said Doll.

Officials say two women, Dolores Ambrosiano and Kristine Robinson, snatched the iPad as the victim was showing it to them. They explain the victim was pushed before the suspects sped off. Officials say kids, ages six to only a few months old, were in the backseat for it all.

“They fled at a high rate of speed putting those children at risk again after a theft,” said Doll.

This isn't the first time Fox13 has told you about similar types of robberies involving random meets to sell or buy an item.
In August of 2017, cameras in San Antonio caught a suspect stealing a man's motorcycle as he tried selling it.

Also last year, police say suspects shot and killed a Pasco county father in front of his teenage son as they met potential buyers for a dirt bike in Tampa.

Sheriff's officials say the number of these kinds of robberies has stayed steady over recent months and he advises using a place where there's a lot of people to conduct a meet. But even then, Doll admits, there's no guarantee of safety.

“We thought these victims did pick a place where they thought they'd be safe but again you never know,” said Doll. 

Ambrosiano and Robinson face charges of robbery and child neglect.