Florida Man on Horseback Arrested After Burglarizing Home: 'Who Takes a Getaway Horse to a Robbery?'

A Florida man was arrested this week on burglary charges after he rode a horse to break into a house in New Port Richey.

Security footage captured Lonnie Maddox, 52, nicknamed "The Rooster," walking around outside the victim's property on Thursday morning, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Maddox was accompanied by Angel, a brown horse.

As Angel wandered away, Maddox can be seen opening the property's screened porch, before then attempting to unlock the front door. Maddox eventually decided the approach was futile and opted to enter through a back window, according to deputies.

After Maddox broke the back window — causing roughly $100 in damages, according to the Tampa Bay Times — the owner of the house, Steve Ferguson, noticed the commotion on the security cameras and called authorities to report the incident.

"Who takes a getaway horse to a robbery?" Ferguson told the Times.

Maddox approached the police officers when they arrived to ask if they had seen his horse. He continued to express concern over the horse's whereabouts while being questioned by authorities, deputies say. The horse is "mine, I've been trying to get to it," Maddox told police, according to Fox News.

Police later found the horse roughly two miles away from the house and returned it to its owner. It is unclear whether Maddox stole the horse or had obtained permission to ride it.

During interrogation, Maddox initially claimed that he was on the property because Angel had run loose and broken through a fence. But when deputies informed him that they were in possession of security footage, Maddox changed his story and told authorities that he broke into the house because he was thinking about renting it and wanted to see the inside.

"I said, 'What were you doing in my house?'" Ferguson said, recounting the incident to Bay News 9. "The guy said, 'My horse broke into your house, mister, and I had to go in and get her.' I said, 'OK, so she broke into the gate and then the porch and then the house?'"

After Maddox's arrest, police conducted a background check on the accused and found that he had previously been found guilty of car theft, drug possession and domestic battery.

New Port Richey, a city in Pasco County, has one of the highest crime rates — 41 per one thousand residents — in America compared to all communities of all sizes, according to Neighborhood Scout. More than 83 percent of communities in Florida have a lower crime rate than New Port Richey, whose roughly 16,500 residents have a one in 24 chance of becoming victim to either a violent or property crime in the area.