Major: 'Seffner Bandit' Gives a Motive for 2-Year String of Robberies

For the so-called, and now accused, “Seffner Bandit,” the string of robberies dating back almost two years ago had a very simple motive.

“Basically, he was trying to provide for his family,” said Major Donna Lusczynski, of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, in an interview Dec. 14, after an interrogation with the suspect. “He worked odd jobs but wasn’t able to make ends meet and he wanted to make sure they were taken care of.”

But to do the crime you do the time, she added, and if, indeed, Andre King, 32, of 1348 Dab Drive in Seffner, is found guilty of the charges he faces, "he's going to be looking at some serious time."

(Related Coverage, and photo: Alleged 'Seffner Bandit' in Custody Following Chase, Crash, Arrest.)

King faces eight counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated fleeing and eluding, and more charges are expected, Lusczynski said.

King was taken into custody Dec. 13 after an early evening car chase that started at the Stop-n-Save Food Store at 4801 Clewis Ave. in Seffner.

There, at around 8:15 p.m., the clerk in that store received word from a citizen standing outside that a masked man brandishing a gun was about to enter, Lusczynski said.

 “It shows a good effort by a concerned citizen of our community, helping out, and we were able to catch [King] based on this tip,” she added.

After calling 911, and upon facing the suspect, the clerk brandished his own gun, which caused King to flee, according to the sheriff’s report.

Responding deputies reportedly saw King enter a Honda Accord and attempted to stop him from feeling.

The resulting chase reportedly lasted for about 10 minutes and ended when King crashed his car into a concrete pole at the corner of Lakewood Drive and State Road 60 (Brandon Boulevard).

King was apprehended and transported to Tampa General Hospital, with “a laceration on his face and bumps and bruises,” Lusczynski said.

She added that King was released Dec. 14 and detained at the Orient Road jail.

“He was exhausted,” and appearead "visibly disturbed," Lusczynski said.

 She noted that the string of 21 robberies and attempted robberies began in Jan. 2010 and that when she and others first heard of King’s detainment, “we were ecstatic.”

The robberies occurred mostly in the Greater Brandon community of Seffner, but also in Tampa and Plant City, where additional charges are expected, Lusczynski said.

The job now, she added, “is to wrap this up so tight that we have a successful prosecution.”

Officials believe King is the so-called “Seffner Bandit” because the modus operandi is similar across the string of cases.

The bandit, she said, "would walk in wearing a hoodie-mask, with a firearm, and on one occasion, a knife, and make the clerk give him money."

Video-surveillance cameras caught the bandit on tape, Lusczynski said, showing a "real large-build guy," which matches King's physique.