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Pasco Co. landlord zip-ties tenants wrists, robs at gunpoint because of 'late rent'

Wore ski mask, hoody to conceal identity
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A Pasco County man left two women tied up and fearing for their lives during an armed home invasion.

ABC Action News discovered, investigators didn't have to go far to find their suspect.

Detectives responded to 9624 Fern St. in New Port Richey Thursday night after the victims reported that their landlord barged into their trailer wearing a ski mask and armed with a handgun.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Lynn Vineyard, 60, zip-tied two of the female victim's wrists and demanded oxycodone pills.

The victims reported that he told them to stay put or "someone in the woods will shoot you."

A detective told ABC Action News that Vineyard knew one of the tenants had a legal prescription for oxycodone.

The two women had rented a trailer on Vineyard's property.

“They knew him right off," said Det. Todd Koenig, with the Pasco County Sherrif's Office.  "They knew his voice, they knew his stature.”

When deputies arrived that night, they searched the property and found the pills and gun inside Vineyard's house.

“They were terrified, didn’t want me to leave until they left the property," said Det. Koenig. "They thought he was going to come back and I assured them that he was going to jail."

Vineyard admitted to detectives that he was angry after his tenants failed to pay him rent.  He believed stealing the highly-addictive pills was the only way to be repaid.