PASCO COUNTY --A burglar in Pasco County picked the wrong target.
He didn't get away with much thanks to an alert janitor and a zippy golf cart.
According to the New Port Richey Police Department, 20-year-old Joseph Rich was in the middle of what they call a weeklong rampage.
They say he had already smashed car windows and taken items at two area nursing homes.
Wednesday morning, officers say Rich targeted the Gulf High School parking lot, smashing the windows of a truck and SUV.
Randy Bishop, the plant manager at Gulf High School, saw it happening and hit the gas on his golf cart. His job is to maintain the school's campus.
"As soon as we got close enough to the vehicles, the suspect took off and we gave chase and in the process almost got close enough to get our hands on him," Bishop said. Rich got away, but didn't get far.
"He scaled the six foot fence on our property and continued to run down the street," he said.
Police then caught the suspect not far from the school. Police say that might not have happened without Gulf High School's newest hero.
"I was just at the right place at the right time," Bishop said.
Rich remains in the Pasco County Jail charged with multiple counts of armed burglary. Police say he's a member of the Blood Gang and has been arrested in Pasco County before for drug possession.
He didn't get away with much thanks to an alert janitor and a zippy golf cart.
According to the New Port Richey Police Department, 20-year-old Joseph Rich was in the middle of what they call a weeklong rampage.
They say he had already smashed car windows and taken items at two area nursing homes.
Wednesday morning, officers say Rich targeted the Gulf High School parking lot, smashing the windows of a truck and SUV.
Randy Bishop, the plant manager at Gulf High School, saw it happening and hit the gas on his golf cart. His job is to maintain the school's campus.
"As soon as we got close enough to the vehicles, the suspect took off and we gave chase and in the process almost got close enough to get our hands on him," Bishop said. Rich got away, but didn't get far.
"He scaled the six foot fence on our property and continued to run down the street," he said.
Police then caught the suspect not far from the school. Police say that might not have happened without Gulf High School's newest hero.
"I was just at the right place at the right time," Bishop said.
Rich remains in the Pasco County Jail charged with multiple counts of armed burglary. Police say he's a member of the Blood Gang and has been arrested in Pasco County before for drug possession.