Authorities probe possible links in restaurant attacks

Authorities in Hillsborough County and St. Petersburg are investigating a possible connection between the sexual assaults of three women who were all attacked while leaving restaurants.

On Aug. 3, three masked, armed men forced their way into the Table in downtown St. Petersburg as a busboy took out the trash. They stole cash, and an employee was sexually assaulted.

Early Saturday in Apollo Beach, three men robbed, abducted and raped two women who were closing a restaurant where they both worked.

"The similarities are three Hispanic males, it's a restaurant and it's early in the morning," said St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt. "There are some similarities to our case, and we are investigating that. There's a possibility it's related."

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer