Two more monkey sightings reported in Hillsborough

TAMPA — Two monkey sightings were reported Friday morning in northwest Hillsborough a couple of hours apart.

It's not clear if the same monkey was seen twice or if this is the same monkey that eluded officials last week, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Vida Morgan.

The first sighting was at 13444 Bellingham Drive at 7:50 a.m., Morgan said. A resident told Sheriff's Office dispatchers that a monkey was sitting on his back porch.

About 10:15 a.m., someone else reported seeing a monkey at 11700 Cypress Nook, about 2 miles away.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials have been notified, Morgan said.

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From Tampabay.com

Wedding brawl ... in case you missed it

Every bride's nightmare probably came true Sunday in Tampa at the waterfront Rusty Pelican Restaurant.

Tampabay.com reported Tuesday that police arrived to find a sprawling melee involving 30 to 40 wedding guests that resulted in a flying brick, the appearance of a gun, and, inevitably, a bride in tears.

Police say the groom, Markeith Brown, was throwing dollar bills onto the dance floor as kids scurried to gather them — "makin' it rain," the rappers call it. Other guests didn't like that, and the fracas was the apparent result.

Deputies: Bicyclist killed in crash with deputy had high blood-alcohol level

MANGO — A 26-year-old man with an elevated blood-alcohol level was killed Sunday night after veering his bicycle into the path of a Hillsborough County sheriff's car, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputy Michael Hannaford, 27, was heading west on U.S. 92 near Mobile Villa Drive when Jonathan Lee Loschen of Seffner peddled his bike into Hannaford's path. The deputy couldn't stop in time and crashed into Loschen, the Sheriff's Office said.

Loschen died at Tampa General Hospital.

Deputies said Loschen's blood-alcohol level was 0.27 at the time of the crash, more than three times the level at which a person is presumed to be impaired.

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No more outdoor smut...uh, paintings...in downtown Plant City

In a 4-1 vote Monday, Plant City commissioners voted to essentially ban any new outdoor paintings from the historic downtown area.  Why?  Because of a painting on the wall of a downtown antique store that sent one commissioner into a state of high dudgeon over what he perceived as a threat to public morality.

"We have an obligation to protect our kids, or citizens, and this community from things that are not of our character, and things we do not want in our community. To think we could allow this kind of trash is ludicrous," said Commissioner Mike Sparkman. "We have to stop it and we have to stop it now."

"This kind of trash" was a mural depicting an elderly man and woman sitting at a table.  Protruding from the man's lap was what the artist said was a chair armrest but which Sparkman and, apparently others, identified as a...male sex organ.

Never mind that the artist had already painted over the controversial part.

Said Blake Emory, who helped create the image, "The city has been up in arms over the Plant City mural from the first time it was presented to them,  We went through the proper channels and did everything we were supposed to do. The offending area in the mural was part of an arm chair, nothing more. But when it was pointed out to me I had it painted over immediately. As far as the rest of the mural is concerned I will be glad to talk to anyone about its content. But no one from the city has asked."

Edward Haynes, the antique store owner who paid for the mural, was similarly annoyed by the kerfluffle.  "I didn't notice anything wrong and the artist painted over the part thought to be indecent without an argument. If the city was so interested in the moral character of the city why don't they do something about the prostitutes soliciting on the city streets, or the bums sleeping in vacant lots at night? I'm all for decency. I have a family too. But let's not get so upset and misplace our energy when it is needed elsewhere."

Yet another dumb criminal tripped up by Craigslist

Sheriff's deputies set up a sting to snare a teen they say stole a bicycle and then tried to sell it on craigslist.org.

The victim saw her own bike for sale on the online classified service and called authorities.

Michael Anthony Tribble, 16, of 6940 Freeport Road, Riverview, was arrested and charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling, third-degree grand theft, dealing in stolen property and obstructing an officer after Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office detectives pretended to be potential buyers.

The victim reported her $870 Giant Avail bicycle from her garage on Wednesday and recognized it online by the specialized handlebars she had installed. The suspect was seeking $670.

Police set up a sting in a Sweetbay parking lot for Oct. 9. Detectives, who were pretending to be a married couple, matched the serial number provided by the victim and arrested the suspect after a brief chase.

Tribble was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

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From Tampabay.com.

Headless animals found near Courtney Campbell Parkway in Tampa

TAMPA — Some volunteers working on the International Coastal Cleanup got a nasty surprise Saturday morning.

While cleaning up the shoreline near a boat ramp on the eastern side of the Courtney Campbell Parkway, they found a beheaded goat and two chickens, said Barbara Walker of the Clearwater Audubon Society.

"They're all headless. It's extremely grotesque," Walker said.

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Deputies: Tampa man faked kidnapping to cheat on his wife

TAMPA — A Tampa man led Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies on a wild goose chase Wednesday night after telling his wife he'd been kidnapped.

But it was a ruse by a cheating spouse, authorities said.

Wikler Moran-Mora, 38, told his wife he'd been abducted so he could cheat on her, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

When she told him she was calling police, Moran-Mora balked, telling her that his captors had agreed to let him go.

But it was too late.

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Snake bites 87-year-old, who kills it with her cane

NEW TAMPA — An 87-year-old woman was hospitalized Monday after she was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake and beat it to death with a cane.

The unidentified woman noticed what she thought was a stick just outside her Hunter's Green home and picked it up to move it, authorities said. The "stick" was a rattlesnake that bit her right hand. She used the cane in her other hand to beat it to death.

She was taken to the University Community Hospital and given 10 vials of antivenin, according to hospital officials. Paramedics also took the dead snake to the hospital, where it will be examined.

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Plant City man fired at girlfriend as she hacked through his door with an axe

PLANT CITY — When his girlfriend took to his door with an axe, William Floyd started shooting, deputies say.

No one was hurt in the 2 a.m. domestic dispute at 2811 S County Line Road, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter. Floyd, 44, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Carter said it seems Floyd's live-in girlfriend couldn't get into his front door and tried to chop it down. So Floyd fired a round at the door with a .38-caliber handgun. The girlfriend drove away and refused to answer an investigator's questions, Carter said.

Floyd admitted to shooting the gun but told deputies he had only fired into the air as the woman was leaving, an arrest report states. Floyd was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail and has been released on bail of $4,000.

Administrator at Tampa's King High 'popped' students' toes for poor grades

TAMPA — It wasn't unusual for King High School students to be called to assistant principal Olayinka Alege's office when their grades slipped.

But when some boys with lagging scores left his office this spring, they reported a punishment that can only be described as unusual.

Alege squeezed their toes.

Five boys told Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies that Alege asked them on numerous occasions to take off a shoe and sock behind closed doors and allow him to "pop" their toes. They said it didn't hurt, but they didn't like it, either. One called it a "weird type of punishment."

Alege told the St. Petersburg Times it was all in good fun.

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