Day care robbed for second time

TAMPA -- Tampa police are searching for a suspect in the home invasion of a home day care provider.

The suspect is described as a Spanish-speaking black male in his early to mid 30s, clean-shaven with short hair. His height was 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-6 and he has a tattoo of a flower and a dagger on his right arm and was last seen wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt, according to police.

At about 10 a.m., Filda Rivera, 64, was in her back yard with three children from her home day care at 1005 Robson St., when the suspect jumped the back fence and demanded money from her.

Rivera gave him $50 that she kept in a kitchen cabinet but the suspect demanded more, took her watch and punched her in the head knocking her unconscious, police said.

Rivera's son Carlos Rivera said a construction worker working on an addition to the house saw the children outside. "He knew something was wrong," said Rivera, one of Filda Rivera's nine grown children.

None of the children were injured.

Filda Rivera was being examined at the hospital after being unconscious on the floor of her home for about 25 minutes and is expected to recover, said Carlos Rivera.

Two years ago, a man and woman knocked on Filda Rivera's door under the guise of enrolling their child in her day care. "They came in and jacked her,” he said.

They took her money, made her cook for them and even threatened to take one of the children for ransom.

The Riveras who moved to the United Stated from Puerto Rico nearly 30 years ago, installed surveillance cameras at Rivera Family Day Care after that, said Carlos Rivera. But with the construction going on, he said, they were disconnected.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Tampa Police Department at (813) 231-6130.

--- Amber Mobley, Times Staff Writer