Monday, April 22, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A man accused in several robberies at knifepoint at businesses around Pinellas County was taken into custody Tuesday, after deputies say they spotted the getaway vehicle at the Coastal Plaza in Dunedin. The driver of the vehicle, Michael Roger Bourdeau, 45, of Pinellas Park, rammed a Pinellas County Sheriff's cruiser in an attempt to get away Tuesday, April 16, authorities say. Bourdeau is accused of entering several businesses in Largo, Clearwater and Oldsmar armed with a long knife, each time demanding money. A 22-year-old Tampa woman is accused of "violently grabbing" her ex-boyfriend's penis during a dispute Tuesday in Bradenton, the Manatee County Sheriff's office reports. According to deputies, Laquavia Sharelle Wallace came to her …
Monday, April 15, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A Clearwater man was arrested after authorities said he brought unregistered guns and ammunition onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on Sunday, according to a report from The Associated Press. Ty Carroll Mitchum, 29, was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police after they found him outside the building Sunday afternoon and searched his car. Manatee County authorities, working with the state, are seeking a former pharmacy store owner wanted since May 2012 in connection to a drug trafficking operation. Investigators accuse Ajay Patel of filling prescriptions for Oxycodone for a drug trafficking operation. Patel operated pharmacies on Longboat Key, Parrish and Bradenton. The Parrish pharmacy is the only one that is still …
Monday, March 18, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Detectives are searching for two women who they say scammed a senior citizen out of $18,000 outside a Largo Walmart last month. The two suspects approached the victim in the parking lot of Walmart, 1111 N. Missouri Ave., around 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 27, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Detectives say the women talked about a desire to obtain American citizenship and claimed that they needed $60,000 for documents to obtain it. They convinced the senior to help them by driving to a nearby bank and withdrawing $18,000, which was eventually provided to the suspects, officials said. The two women then fabricated a story and left the area. A 70-year-old Brandon man faces a second-degree murder charge after deputies say he …
Monday, March 11, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A 19-year-old Largo man is in jail after allegedly feeding a child a hallucinogenic mushroom Feb. 23. According to the arrest affidavit, Ryan Parris knowingly bought illegal mushrooms and gave them to a child to eat. The child's age was not released by police. Parris has been charged with child abuse and is currently awaiting trial at the Pinellas County Jail on a $10,000 bond. Clearwater Police say 21 businesses and seven vehicles were apparently hit with marbles shot from a slingshot from Saturday night into Sunday. Police arrested the suspects, Dominick Zambrano, 24, and Seth Cazalas, 22, on charges of shooting a deadly missile at an occupied vehicle and criminal mischief. The incidents occurred at the beach, downtown and in other …
Monday, March 4, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A Seffner man is believed to be dead after being swallowed by a sinkhole Thursday night, Feb. 28. Jeffrey Bush, 36, was asleep in bed around 11 p.m. when the ground opened up beneath his home at 240 Faithway Dr., Seffner, and swallowed him, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon. St. Petersburg Police have arrested and charged 22-year-old Robert Spalla with impersonating a St. Pete Fire & Rescue firefighter. Police say starting in November 2012, when one of his family members was in All Children's Hospital, he began to pose as a firefighter at the hospital. Spalla would be seen wearing jumpsuits or T-shirt with "fire department type logos" on them, according to authorities. He claimed that he worked for the St. …
Monday, February 25, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy chose to resign Monday in lieu of termination after an internal investigation found he had misrepresented the facts about an off-duty encounter with a prostitute and violated other department rules, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Robert F. Johnson, 42, had worked at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office since October of 1999. He was working in the patrol operations bureau at the time of his termination. A New Port Richey area man sent his ex-girlfriend nearly 240 text messages over the course of several hours Tuesday, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. An arrest report says Steven Horlacher sent 239 text messages “harassing and threatening" his ex-girlfriend, who he used to…
Monday, February 18, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Two former employees of TradeWinds Resort are accused of embezzling more than $780,000 from the St. Pete Beach hotel, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. Detectives say the resort's former head of the information technology department and its ex-chief financial officer created shell corporations licensed with the state and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the resort through these made-up companies starting in 2007. Harold James, 46, and Sam Baage, 58, used the corporations to bill TradeWinds Resort for services it never received and embezzled a total of $782,018, which they used to lead "very comfortable lifestyles," the sheriff's office said. Sarasota Police arrested a 27-year-old man on charges of armed …
Monday, February 11, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A deputy U.S. Marshal suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound when a gun accidentally went off at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office shooting range in St. Petersburg, authorities said Wednesday. A group of U.S. Marshals Service employees were conducting shooting exercises when the gun went off, officials said. The deputy marshal, whose name was not released due to the officer's current work assignment, was shot in the upper leg and was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. Pinellas County Sheriff's detectives say a man robbed a Dunedin convenience store three times within the past month, including a Feb. 7 smash-and-grab burglary in which he allegedly took 100 scratch-off lottery tickets. A fingerprint lifted from a stolen …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A chief financial officer faces charges of stealing funds from 10 beach condo associations and from the realty company where he worked.
The chief financial officer at a Tampa Bay realty company faces a first degree grand theft charge for allegedly stealing $560,000 from 10 beach condo associations. (The associations are listed below.) Roberto Martin Velez, 45, of Seminole was the chief financial officer for Total Realty Services, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, when he allegedly embezzled the money from the condo associations and his employer. Authorities allege that Velez stole the funds over the past three and half years. In his CFO position, Velez managed the transfers of funds from the condo associations to Total Realty Services. After the funds reached his employer, he would transfer money to himself with checks and electronic payments, authorities …
Saturday, December 8, 2012
We compile the odd, unusual and ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Saturday, December 8, 2012
Instead of the beer she was looking for, a woman visiting a St. Petersburg man this week found four kittens wrapped up in sandwich bags in his freezer, St. Pete Patch reports. One of the kittens didn't make it, but the three others are doing fine and recovering at the SPCA Tampa Bay, Largo Patch reports. As for the man, 49-year-old Rodney J. Blanchard, he was arrested and charged with four counts of animal cruelty, plus one count of battery for pushing the woman. And to top it off, Blanchard's son was charged with attempted murder this week. Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies say the same thief struck a Kmart in Brandon three times on three separate days in November, Brandon Patch reports. The alleged thief used the same trick to …
