CLEARWATER—A Largo man had a child in tow when he stole money from an undercover officer during a drug deal Friday night, Pinellas sheriff's deputies said.
Duane Neal Ruge, 33, of Largo was arrested on multiple drug charges along with two counts of child neglect.
Deputies said Ruge sold $125 worth of the painkiller oxycodone to an undercover deputy in Largo about 5 p.m. Friday.
At about 8:40 p.m., Ruge met an undercover deputy for another drug deal in Clearwater, this time with the child in tow. Ruge had arranged to sell the deputy Percocet tablets, but instead stole $80 in cash from the deputy. When she confronted him, deputies said, he gave back $20 and ran away, arrest reports state.
Ruge was arrested at 10:25 p.m. in Clearwater. He was carrying hydromorphone, another kind of painkiller, at the time, police said.
He remained in the Pinellas County Jail Saturday in lieu of $34,050 bail.