HUDSON - A 29-year-old homeless man is accused of beating up an elderly man who gave him a ride from a liquor store before stealing the older man's car.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Donald Winston, 79, picked up hitchhiker James Alfred Jacobsen around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday at an ABC Liquor Store.
When Winston drove Jacobsen, 29, to Rhodes Road and U.S. 19, Jacobsen grabbed the older man's arm and punched him in the face and head more than a dozen times, breaking his nose and causing several cuts, the sheriff's office said.
Jacobsen demanded Winston's money, but the older man had only $2; Jacobsen then stole Winston's 2001 Ford Taurus and drove away, a sheriff's report said. Jacobsen was identified by an ex-girlfriend who viewed surveillance video from the liquor store that showed him getting into Winston's car, the sheriff's office said.
Jacobsen was charged with carjacking, robbery and aggravated battery on a person 65 years of age or older. He was being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail with bail set at $60,000. Winston's car has not been recovered.