PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- A Pinellas Park couple said they no longer feel safe in their own home after waking up on Sunday to a career criminal who allegedly robbed them at gunpoint and stole their car.

• Pinellas Park armed home invasion survivors speak out
• Couple says suspect stole sense of safety
• Suspect identified as Joshua Bartle, 44

"We don't want to come home," said Regis Roberts, 74. "He doesn't belong on the streets. Nobody needs to go through something like this." 

Roberts said it was about 5:50 a.m. when his wife, Sherry Rickey, 68, woke him up with the surreal news that they were being robbed.

"She wakes me up, 'Reggie, we're being robbed.' I just didn't take it for real at first," said Roberts. "'Do as I say, don't move and I won't shoot you.'"

Roberts said he obeyed that command from the gunman, whom police identified as Joshua Bartle, 44, who was just released from prison last year after serving 10-years for burglary and trafficking in stolen property. 

Rickey said she heard Bartle enter their bedroom.

"I heard the gun hit the door and it was pointing right at me and he says, 'be quiet and I won't hurt you,' said Rickey. "I gave him $350 and he says, 'now you come and go with me.'"  

Bartle forced Rickey to give him the keys to her car but didn't know how to work the fob, according to Pinellas Park Police.

"He put the gun to my back and took me out the door and he says, 'I need you to start it,'" said Rickey. "He didn't even know how to unlock it. I had to unlock it and he got in the car and I had to reach over him and put the key in the ignition and start it."

Roberts said the only time he got emotional was once he realized Bartle had left and they survived the home invasion.

"Until she came back in the house and called my name," he said. "Then I knew she was ok at that point, that's when I got really, really shook."

The couple called 911 and police said they located Bartle and the stolen car less than a half-hour later at the Bayside Inn, which is only a few blocks from the victims' home. Bartle was arrested after a short foot chase, according to police.

Rickey got her car back and most of her money but said Bartle stole their sense of safety.

"He violated me. I don't like being in here," she said. "I don't want to be in here but financially right now we don't have a choice. I'd like to be as far from here as I can be."

Bartle was arrested on a number of charges including felon in possession of a gun, armed burglary, and carjacking. Bartle is being held in the Pinellas County jail on a $415,000 bond.