Men accused of stealing metal from cemetery

ST. PETERSBURG -- Sheriff’s deputies have arrested two men who are accused of stealing 1,500 pounds of titanium surgical hardware from vaults at Memorial Park Cemetary.

The surgical hardware metals were remnants received by the cemetery from funeral homes after cremations. These remnants were subsequently deposited into secured cement vaults interred on unmarked cemetery grounds and are held in "perpetual care" as deemed by state law.

According to detectives, 19-year-old Jack McWilliams (left), who is a former employee of the cemetery, and 42-year-old Vincent Paul Marlyne drove a truck onto an unmarked area of the cemetery grounds. Once there the men used two-by-fours to pry open and remove two cement vault tops and then took the metal contents, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies say on or about Jan. 28, Marlyne took the metals, approximately 1,500-pounds worth, to Tampa and sold it for scrap for about $1,500. The men split the money, the Sheriff's Office said.

McWilliams and Marlyne face charges of injuring a tomb or monument by disturbing its contents.

- Abhi Raghunathan, Times staff writer

Man exposes himself to girl, police say

ST. PETERSBURG -- A man grabbed and exposed himself to a 9-year-old girl in St. Petersburg this afternoon, according to a relative who called police.

Police began investigating after a woman called in about 4 p.m. to report the incident, after which the girl ran home.

Police say the suspect is a black man in his 20s with a light complexion. He was wearing a blue shirt and may be intoxicated. He was last seen walking away from the scene, in the 500 block of 15th Avenue S.

- Stephanie Garry, Times staff writer

Blackout traced to one field engineer

Human error caused Tuesday's massive blackout across Florida, Armando Olivera, president of Florida Power & Light, said today.

At 1:08 p.m. Tuesday, a single field engineer working at the Flagami substation in western Miami-Dade County disabled a pair of safeguards that would have confined the outage to a few thousand customers, if any.

Instead, 584,000 FPL customers lost power, as did more than 200,000 customers in the Tampa Bay area.
The employee has been suspended with pay pending the outcome a thorough investigation, Olivera said.

The problem caused several power plants to shut down, including FPL's two nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, 25 miles south of Miami.

FPL also lost a large natural gas power plant at Turkey Point, and two other small power plants at other locations.

Tampa Electric lost power from two small natural gas plants. In all, 3,400-megawatts of generation was lost within several minutes.

- Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Possible gas leak affects Land O'Lakes traffic

Pasco deputies have been rerouting traffic at State Road 54 and Pleasant Point Boulevard in east Land O'Lakes because of a strong natural gas odor in the area.

As of 4 p.m., deputies report the scene appears safe and the road was being reopened, although traffic in the area is expected to be tied up for some time.

- Helen Anne Travis, Times staff writer

Reports: Pasco man admits breaking into 70 homes

LAND O'LAKES -- Christopher McCormick, 40, of New Port Richey was arrested Thursday and charged with multiple counts of burglary and grand theft, among other charges.

Pasco deputies said he broke into at least five homes in Land O’Lakes and stole more than $10,000 worth of jewelry, tools and video equipment.

McCormick admitted breaking into as many as 70 homes in the area, according to the arrest reports. He told deputies he traded the stolen goods to fuel his drug addiction.

McCormick is in the Land O’Lakes jail in lieu of $155,000 bail.

- Helen Anne Travis, Times staff writer

Man arrested in sexual assault, kidnapping case

PORT RICHEY -- A 30-year-old Port Richey man is facing sexual battery and kidnapping charges stemming from an incident Wednesday involving a 17-year-old girl. Here is what a Pasco Sheriff’s Office report said: A witness said about 2 a.m., a female suspect tried to stab the 17-year-old as she sat in the passenger seat of a car with the window rolled down. The suspect’s boyfriend pulled her away from the car and told the 17-year-old that she could avoid being stabbed if she gave them her laptop. So the girl handed the computer to the suspect and her boyfriend.

Then, two of the suspect’s male friends drove the girl to an unknown location on U.S. 19, flashed a gun and said they would shoot her if she didn’t have sex with them. After the girl was sexually assaulted, she was driven to Main Street and U.S. 19 in New Port Richey and let out of the car. (The Times does not identify victims of sexual assaults.)

The men fled, but using a photo lineup, the girl identified Jose Manual Marcano as one of the men who kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. Marcano, of 11105 Pine Tree Lane, is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail in the Land O’Lakes jail.

Police are looking for the second man who sexually assaulted the girl and the female suspect who took her laptop. 

Putting their Braille skills to the test

Eric Miller of Lithia gives his son Jon, 8, a kiss on the cheek after typing out how much he loved him and how proud he was that he has learned Braille, as well as wishing him good luck today. [MELISSA LYTTLE | Times]

TAMPA -- Twenty blind and visually impaired students from Hillsborough, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties met today at the West Central Florida Regional Braille Challenge to test their Braille skills.
The challenge, sponsored by Braille Institute of America, is designed to encourage blind children of all ages to fine-tune their Braille skills. It is being held at the Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind.

It's part of a national academic competition for blind students.

Participants will compete in five categories requiring them to transcribe, type and read Braille. Students' Braille skills are evaluated in several areas --  reading comprehension, Braille spelling, tactile chart and graph reading, proofreading, and Braille speed and accuracy.

- Melissa Lyttle, Times staff writer


Matthew Dowell, 14, of Apopka goes over his work in the Proofreading competition during one of five tests in the Braille Challenge. [MELISSA LYTTLE | Times]

Man charged in sexual battery, kidnapping

PORT RICHEY -- A 30-year-old Port Richey man is facing sexual battery and kidnapping charges stemming from an incident Wednesday involving a 17-year-old girl.

Here is what a Pasco sheriff’s office report said: A witness said around 2 a.m., a female suspect tried to stab the 17-year-old as she sat in the passenger seat of a car with the window rolled down.

The suspect’s boyfriend pulled her away from the car and told the 17-year-old that she could avoid being stabbed if she gave them her laptop. So the girl handed the computer to the suspect and her boyfriend.

Then, two of the suspect’s male friends drove the girl to an unknown location on U.S. 19, flashed a gun and said they would shoot her if she didn’t have sex with them.

After the girl was sexually assaulted, she was driven to Main Street and U.S. 19 in New Port Richey and let out of the car. (The Times does not identify victims of sexual assaults).

The men fled, but using a photo line-up, the girl identified Jose Manual Marcano as one of the men who kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. Marcano, of 11105 Pine Tree Lane, is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail at the Land O’Lakes jail.

Police are looking for the second man who sexually assulted the girl and the female suspect who took her laptop.

--Times staff writer

Neo-Nazi calls killer 'friend' and 'mentor'

UPDATE

DADE CITY -- If you judge a man by the company he keeps, well then, what if he's in jail?

Lawrence Joey Smith has been incarcerated for nine years now, since his 1999 arrest and subsequent conviction for first-degree murder and attempted murder.

Now facing the death penalty for the execution-style shootings of two teens that left one dead in 1999, he is acting as his own lawyer, using what he learned reading law books behind bars.

He found a character witness there, too.

Which explains the appearance of the tattooed young man with the pointed beard, red jail coveralls and handcuffs who appeared on the courtroom video screen today.

His name is John Allen Ditullio Jr., the neo-Nazi charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the infamous 2006 Teak Street stabbing attack in New Port Richey.

"Mr. Ditullio," Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper said, "would you raise your right hand to receive the oath?"

The defense called Ditullio to testify that Smith has been a positive influence on him during his two years in jail. The two were once "neighbors" in confinement cells in the Land O'Lakes Detention Center, where the jail's most dangerous inmates are held.

Ditullio called Smith a "friend" and a "mentor."

"What kind of effect has he had on your life?" asked Keith Hammond, Smith's standby counsel.

"Mr. Smith has made me re-evaluate my life and reconstruct my life in a positive way," Ditullio said. "I've made some mistakes, but I'm definitely not the same person I once was."

Ditullio said that Smith is a model prisoner who counsels him on his "disciplinary problems" inside the jail. If Smith were to be sentenced to life in prison, Ditullio said, Smith could continue to be a positive influence on his life.

Then it was the state's turn.

Ditullio, it turns out, has not been a model prisoner.

"In fact you've been written up several times for disciplinary reports?" asked Assistant State Attorney Manny Garcia. "In actuality you've been written up 28 times."

"I've also been here two years," Ditullio said.

Then Garcia asked Ditullio why he was wearing a red jumpsuit. In Pasco County, most prisoners wear orange and white striped jumpsuits.

"That's because I'm a red-dot," Ditullio said. Before he could explain, Hammond objected. The judge allowed him to explain what "red-dot" means in the jail.

"The significance is that you're a high-risk inmate," Garcia asked, "is that correct?"

"Yes," Ditullio said.

"You indicated that Mr. Smith is a positive influence in your life?" Garcia asked.

Ditullio said yes. But then Garcia asked him about his three arrests inside the jail since he was indicted for the 2006 stabbings.

Ditullio has also been accused of an elaborate escape attempt, of keeping contraband in his cell, and most recently this month of breaking the sprinkler head in his cell, flooding his cell.

"Did Mr. Smith ... try to counsel you about these things?" Garcia asked.

"Mr. Smith wasn't in the pod with me, but I received a letter from him," Ditullio said. "He counseled me. He was upset that I would do something so foolish like that."

And that was it.

The jurors never heard about Ditullio's murder charges. Nor did they heard about the charges of aggravated assault, domestic battery and tampering with a witness filed against him in the brutal beating of his ex-girlfriend before the 2006 stabbings.

Nor did they learn why he wasn't brought to court: he was considered a security risk.

"Mr. Ditullio I'm not going to tell you what I tell the other witnesses," the judge said, "that you're free to go."

Ditullio smiled.

"Thank you," he said.

- Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

ABOVE: Neo-Nazi John Allen Ditullio Jr. testifies through closed-circuit TV today that Smith has been a good influence on him since they met in jail. [Mike Pease | Times]

Woman who died in fire identified

ST. PETERSBURG -- Authorities have identified the woman who died in a house fire on Feb. 23 as Patricia McMin, a 58-year-old woman with a history of mental illness.

Authorities have said it appeared McMin's death in her home at 1137 55th Ave. N was a suicide. They found gas cans and petroleum inside the home, and said the doors were padlocked from the inside.

- Abhi Raghunathan, Times staff writer