SEPTEMBER 8--A Florida woman who claimed to be a “vampire” last night attacked an elderly man, biting him on the face and arm and tearing away chunks of his skin, according to police.

Josephine Smith, 22, was arrested today and charged with felony aggravated battery on an elderly person. Smith, seen in the mug shot at right, was booked into the Pinellas County Jail, where she is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

“I’m a vampire, I am going to eat you,” Smith announced before allegedly attacking Milton Ellis, according to an arrest affidavit.

Ellis, 69, received stitches to close up wounds suffered during the assault, which occurred in front of a vacant Hooters in St. Petersburg. Cops says Ellis, who uses a motorized wheelchair, was asleep when Smith pounced on him, commenced biting, and announced that she was a vampire.

The bleeding Ellis escaped his attacker’s clutches and called 911 from a nearby gas station.

When cops arrived, they located Smith--covered in blood and half naked--near the Hooters, according to a police spokesman. During questioning, she was unable to tell officers what had transpired outside the shuttered restaurant. Nor could she explain what had happened to her pants or why her panties were at her ankles.

According to her Facebook profile, Smith has recently studied “dental assisting” at the Fortis Institute in Pensacola, where she resides.

Ellis, who police described as a transient, has been arrested at least 12 times over the past four years for crimes like trespassing, panhandling, battery, and disorderly intoxication. He is pictured here in a mug shot taken following an a bust four months ago. (1 page)