MOSS POINT, Miss.- A man was arrested after bragging about the crimes he committed on the east coast to residents of Moss Point.
Timothy Safford was accused of kidnapping, robbing and assaulting an elderly man in Delaware and was tracked down and arrested Friday morning in Moss Point.
“He said, ‘You know my forte. I ain’t going to kill you, I’m just going to torture you,'” a Moss Point resident told WLOX.
The resident said Safford was very open about the crimes he likes to commit.
“I heard several times, out in the field when he was drinking, he didn’t kill his people, he liked to torture his people,” a resident said. “He told me he was from the east coast and he had just got done with eight years.”
Saffard is believed to have taken part in a crime with another woman, Shirley Smith, in a home invasion in Dover, Delaware. Investigators said the two pulled an 82-year-old man from his car, tied him up in a bedroom, bound his legs and arms with cords, cut his ear threatening to cut it off and stabbed the man multiple times.
The victim said he gave the pair his bank card and information, as well as the location of cash in his vehicle, but they continued to threaten him if he wouldn’t cooperate more.
After about seven hours the elderly man was able to free himself to call the police and get to the hospital. He’s expected to fully recover from all of his injuries.
Safford’s aunt, Helen Forrest, told WLOX he showed up at their family home on Jackson Street in Moss Point last week. They hadn’t seen Safford in nearly 15 years and the last impression she had of him was as an outgoing, respectful man.
“We had no idea what was going on with him. We were excited to see him. He never told us he was in any kind of trouble,” Forrest said.
It was not until police showed up Friday morning that Forrest knew anything was wrong.
“I was surprised, very surprised because they asked me who stayed here and I told them,” Forrest said. “It just took me by surprise. The whole incident it just took me for a loss, but I cooperated because I knew if I hadn’t, I’d be in trouble.”
After learning what her nephew is accused of she said, ” I think that is terrible, if he did that. I’m not sure that he did that because that doesn’t sound like Timothy to me. If he did that, I can just send my apology to the family. But I don’t know him like that.”
The charges pending against him are: Kidnapping 1st Degree, Robbery 1st Degree, Assault 1st Degree, Possession of a Deadly Weapon During Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Deadly Weapon by Person Prohibited, Conspiracy 2nd Degree, Criminal Mischief Under $1,000, and Theft of a Motor Vehicle.
Dover Police Department said officers hope to have Safford extradited to Delaware in the next few weeks.
