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Seekonk Homeowner Fights Armed Robbery Suspect

TAUNTON (CBS) - A Seekonk couple came home on Tuesday in broad daylight to find an armed man stealing items from their home.

A terrified Seekonk homeowner was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher as her 65-year-old husband was in a struggle with the suspect. Police say he attacked the husband and threatened the man's 67-year-old wife with a knife before running out.

The woman said to the 911 dispatcher, "there's a man in our house, he's a young man he's carrying a green bag, he's running down the street."

Police identified the attacker as David Allard. His 18-year-old cousin was allegedly driving the getaway car and was also arrested.

David Allard
David Allard and Joshua Allard (WBZ-TV)

Allard has a long criminal history including 12 guilty findings on his record. Allard's defense attorney, Tom Natoli, said he was stealing to support a drug habit.

"Mr. David Allard, he has struggled significantly with substance abuse for the last six years. He was in OCC at one point," said Natoli

With so many people in the state of Massachusetts addicted to opiates, police in just about every town and city say they've seen a tremendous spike in the number of property crimes.

"We've seen an uptick in residential B and E's. In conjunction with that we've seen a large uptick also in shoplifting cause we do have a large commercial district," said Lt. David Dyson of Seekonk police.

Across the state first responders are frustrated with the opiate problem, the web of crime it creates and lives its ruined.

"There's no community now that's immune to that unfortunately and it's a sad day when you start to see these things start to transpire and the people affected by it," said Lt. Dyson.

As for Allard and his cousin, they were held on bail.

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