Wild Search For Accused Stalker Nets 4 Arrests

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — A search for a 28-year-old New Port Richey man wanted on aggravated stalking charges took a few unusual turns Tuesday. Pasco County authorities say the man fled capture, tried to hit a deputy’s cruiser with a SUV and then inadvertently led them to a few other people accused of breaking the law. One of the three men arrested as a result of the initial manhunt is accused of threatening to shoot down the sheriff’s office helicopter involved in the search.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the string of events began to unfold in the early morning hours of April 25 when Billy Elliot is accused of threatening a Port Richey woman. Elliot, an arrest report said, told the woman if he couldn’t have her no one could. He’s also accused of threatening to run her vehicle off the road, going to her home and kicking in her door when she wouldn’t respond to him and pounding on her windows over the past few days, among other things.

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The alleged stalking hit a peak, the arrest report said, when Elliot “informed her he was going to beat her up.” Consequently, when Elliot allegedly showed up at her door early Tuesday morning, the woman called deputies.

When deputies caught up with Elliot and tried to arrest him on a stalking charge, he “attempted to strike” a patrol car with his Ford Escape, a secondary arrest report said. He then is accused of driving off, ignoring another deputy’s attempt to stop his car. At that point, deputies say Elliot parked the SUV in the area of Premier Avenue and Coventry Drive and bailed out.

That’s when the chase began to take some strange turns. The sheriff’s office said patrol deputies, K9 units, the air patrol and other units were called in to look for Elliot.

“Several locations were checked throughout the day as information was received and leads developed,” a Wednesday morning email from the sheriff’s office said.

As deputies searched for their suspect, they saw a man running in the area Elliot had fled from.

As it turned out, “the unrelated suspect had just committed a burglary in which he stole a firearm and other items,” the sheriff’s office email said. A phone was also stolen during the burglary, the agency noted. It was tracked to the man deputies had seen running. Terry Tuten, 29, of Wesley Chapel was charged with armed burglary, grand theft, resisting arrest and escape, the agency reported.

Deputies also say they came across Darren Noffsinger, 29, of Port Richey in one the places they looked for Elliot. Noffsinger was wanted on burglary and theft charges, the agency’s email noted.

As the search for Elliot continued into the afternoon, the focus moved to the Hudson area, the sheriff’s office said. Edward William Paul, 36, of Hudson was allegedly upset by the ruckus created by the agency’s helicopter flying over his Melanie Avenue home. Paul is accused of calling 911 several times about the helicopter and threatening at one point to shoot it down, an arrest report said. Deputies consequently paid Paul’s home a visit and charged him with misuse of 911 as the search for Elliot continued.

As for Elliot, deputies say they eventually found him hiding in an abandoned mobile home on Lofty Drive. He was brought into custody around 7 p.m. April 25 and how faces aggravated stalking, aggravated assault on a law enforcement office and fleeing and eluding charges.

Booking photos of Elliot, Tuten, Noffsinger and Paul courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office