FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A violent attack left a Fort Lauderdale senior battered, bruised and in incredible amounts of pain; police say the person responsible for the beatdown also robbed him and took his car.
Officers arrested the suspect over the weekend and on Monday released 911 calls from the incident.
Norman Sapp, 73, is heard speaking to the dispatcher on the calls and describing what happened at the Leisure Beach South Condominium at 2900 Banyan St. Saturday night.
“It was an intruder. I came in (from) the garbage. I left my door unlocked and he came into my apartment and went through everything, through everything all over the place, and he started beating me up, wanting money,” Sapp is heard telling the dispatcher. “He’s kicking me and everything. I gave him what money I had.”
Sapp adds, “Thank God, I thought he was going to kill me.”
Another 911 caller describes the suspect, who police said is Joseph Patrick Soini, in the process of taking Sapp’s Hyundai Sonata.
“He (Soini) was very aggressive inside the vehicle. Looks like he’s trying to steal the radio, at a minimum,” the caller tells a Broward County dispatcher. “He’s beating the hell out of the radio and throwing all kinds of material outside of the vehicle, rooting through everything.”
Police said they caught up to Soini, 48, a few hours later in Sapp’s car and arrested him on grand theft auto and drug charges.
Soini refused to make a bond court appearance over the weekend and a judge issued him a $15,000 bond.
This isn’t Soini’s first run-in with the law; he has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1995.
Soini, as of Monday, remained locked up at the Broward County Main Jail. Authorities said additional charges may be forthcoming.