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Robert Newcomb, a wheelchair-bound paraplegic, was accosted in his home yesterday
Robert Newcomb claims a robber entered his bedroom |
It was about 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning when Robert Newcomb's front door was kicked in.
The loud noise woke him up, so he yelled, "Who's in my house?"
The response "scared him to death."
With a few expletives thrown in, the 42-year-old was told to stay where he was.
Newcomb, a paraplegic, soon realized what the intruder was looking for: prescription drugs.
The robber made his way through the mobile home, located in the Cedar Ridge Mobile Home Park in Woodford, near Corbin. He then came into Newcomb's bedroom, which was lit only by the TV.
"He pointed the sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun at me and he asked for my pain medication," Newcomb said. "Then he demanded oxycontin."
The drug thief, as described by Newcomb, was a 20-something-year-old, tall, skinny, pale-skinned white male with baby blue eyes and "scroungy" eyebrows. He was wearing a bandanna on his head and another on his face.
Newcomb said he knew the drugs he was prescribed weren't what the stranger was looking for.
"He said, if you don't give me what I want, I'm going to blow your [expletive] brains out," Newcomb said.
When the masked man was told he wouldn't find oxycontin in the house, he grabbed a box of drugs sitting next to Newcomb's wheelchair, then fled.
Newcomb called 911.
ROUND TWO
About 10 minutes later, Newcomb had gotten into his wheelchair and his roommate was awake and talking to him. They were waiting on police to arrive when the gun-wielding man returned looking for more, he said.
"He had enough time to realize the box didn't have anything he wanted," Newcomb said.
Newcomb had more prescription drugs in a dresser drawer, which the man went through. From his wheelchair, Newcomb said he tried to distract the thief.
"I was trying to delay him in time for the law to get there," he said.
Maj. Scott Moser of the Caroline County Sheriff's Office said the first officer arrived 20 minutes after the call to 911.
PREMEDITATED?
The man who kicked open the door, knew he'd find drugs, Newcomb said.
In the last week, he said, two teenagers have come by asking to buy prescription drugs from him.
Though he declined both times, he said he thinks the fact that he's in a wheelchair assures people that he has medication.
Newcomb was able to call CVS Pharmacy, who then contacted his insurance company and his prescriptions will be refilled. But he still has to pay for them and he doesn't have the money to afford the refills right now.
Newcomb said not only is he worried about the drugs that were already stolen, but also about the robber's return.
"I'm just thankful my kids weren't here," he said.
He has visitation with his 3- and 4-year-olds every other weekend.
Moser said the police are already looking into leads and anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 804/633-1133.
"I know he's going to come back eventually if he's not caught," Newcomb said.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com
