Pregnant AZ woman with pocket knife thwarts thief
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12:17 PM MST on Friday, September 21, 2007
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) -- A pregnant woman fended off a would-be thief with a pocket knife in Gilbert and later said the man had "messed with the wrong girl."

Tracy Mann, a 21-year-old who said she is three months' pregnant, was walking home from work at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday when she spotted a truck parked with its door open and no one inside.

Mann became suspicious and pulled out her pocket knife.

That's when a man appeared and asked Mann for a cigarette and then to borrow her cell phone. Mann said she didn't answer him either time and kept walking, but had flipped open the knife's blade.

The man then grabbed her purse and started pulling it along with Mann.

Mann then fought back with the knife. "He was just tugging me and the purse, and I just started slashing at him," she said.

She said she didn't stop slashing until the man let her go and ran away. Mann followed him up an embankment of rocks to an awaiting truck so she could write down the license plate number.

Mesa police found the truck a short time later in Mesa and arrested Filemon Del Hoyo, 22, Abel Lorenzo Reyes, 18, and Isidro Mendoza, 22, all of Mesa.

Police say Del Hoyo was the one who tried to grab Mann's purse. He was taken to a local hospital and underwent surgery for knife wounds. He faces attempted robbery charges, and Reyes and Mendoza face conspiracy to commit robbery.

Del Hoyo was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement because he is in the country illegally. Reyes and Mendoza were being held in Maricopa County jail.

Maricopa County Superior Court officials did not immediately know whether the men had lawyers.

Gilbert police spokesman Lt. Eric Shuhandler praised Mann's ability to defend herself. "Good for her for being aware of her surroundings and not becoming a victim," he said.

Mann credited growing up in Chicago for being tough. She said she always carries her Winchester pocketknife with her, "because you just never know."
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com