Troopers search for driver in fatal hit-and-run

KENNETH CITY — A female pedestrian was killed after she was hit by two vehicles in the 4700 block of 66th Street N Tuesday night, Florida Highway Patrol troopers reported.

Investigators said the first vehicle that hit the woman stopped, but a second vehicle -- which hit her and dragged her about 50 feet -- left the scene. A witness described the second car as a four-door, white Honda Civic -- perhaps a 1993 or 1994 model.

The accident occurred about 7:45 p.m. as the pedestrian, Kryss Leitson, 45, of St. Petersburg, crossed the road in an area that does not have a crosswalk or intersection. She was taken to St. Petersburg General Hospital, where she died.

No charges had been filed against the driver of the first vehicle, Helen Cortez Ewin, 57, of Kenneth City, who troopers said was unable to avoid hitting the woman. Troopers said the second car stopped briefly, then left. Anyone with information about the crash or the hit-and-run vehicle can call the FHP Cpl. Doug Guy at (813) 631-4020.

Tampa man charged with defrauding a temp agency

TAMPA -- A 43-year-old Tampa man was arrested after a temp agency accused him of forgery and receiving payment for jobs he did not do, according to a Hillsborough County arrest affidavit.

Keith Darrell Smith (pictured) of 1824 Cadillac Circle is charged with forgery, uttering a forged instrument, grand theft and scheming to defraud.

Workers Temporary Staffing of 1908 E Fletcher Ave told Tampa police that Smith turned in pay voucher's to the temp office with a foreman from Tampa Tank Inc.'s signature forged on them.

"He was fraudulently putting in for work he did not do, " said Lt. Stephen Hartnett, a spokesman for the Tampa Police Department.

Tampa Tank is a national engineering and construction company that builds storage silos for petroleum and other bulk storage items.

Liz Rice of Tampa Tank's human resources department said that Smith was never on her payroll and that he had briefly been part of a small group of laborers contracted from Workers Temporary Staffing. Workers Temporary Staffing paid Smith $19,557.75 since Aug. 15, the arrest report stated.

He's being held at Orient Road Jail with bail set at $10,500.

--Robbyn Mitchell, Times staff writer

Woman charged with hitting man with hammer

TAMPA -- Police arrested a 50-year-old woman they say struck a man with hammer following an argument, according to the arrest report.

The report said Carol Ann Sample (pictured) of 315 E. Fairbanks St. hit the man, who she has lived with for 10 years, in his waist and lower back causing him minor injuries.

While she was being arrested, police discovered a white substance residue in her purse that tested positive for cocaine, according to the report.

Sample is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine paraphernalia. She is being held at orient Road Jail where no bail has been set.

--Robbyn Mitchell, Times staff writer

Residents allowed back in after TI condo fire

TREASURE ISLAND -- Most residents were allowed back into the Blind Pass Lagoon condominium tower today after Monday afternoon's fire gutted a fourth-floor apartment and brought fire crews from all over south Pinellas.

Power and water were restored to all but a handful of units, said Treasure Island Fire Chief Charles Fant, allowing residents to return.

The only unit still uninhabitable is Apt. 402, where the fire raged on Monday, and units directly below it damaged by water used to fight the blaze. But those water-logged units weren't occupied, Fant said.

Monday's alarm was called in at 3:54 p.m. as a kitchen fire, but Fant said the cause won't be known for a few days.

"By all appearances, it's of accidental origin," the chief said today.

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue had nothing new to report today on the Sunday fire that claimed the three-story Biltmore Apartments at 435 Third Ave. N.

Demolition crews are still working on what's left, and the investigation into the cause of the fire will continue on Wednesday.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

Missing Pinellas Park man found

PINELLAS PARK -- A 61-year-old man reported missing from his assisted living facility on Monday was found early this morning in Largo, police said.

Thomas Allen reportedly suffers from dementia and paranoid schizophrenia and was last seen leaving the facility at 7550 60 Way N. Authorities were alerted just before 1 p.m. Monday.

Details of how he was located were not released today. But authorities did say that he was apparently found unharmed and taken to a hospital for examination.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

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This time, the fire alarm worked

[Fire Captain Gary Reed is assisted with removing his oxygen tank while Fire Chief Jim Gary, right, and Fire Marshall Todd Spear, left, discuss the two-alarm fire at Watermans Crossing. Kainaz Amaria, Times]

TAMPA -- Workers at the 403-unit Waterman's Crossing Apartments smelled smoke today and pulled a fire alarm. The alarm worked. The fire department came.

That, in itself, marked progress for a troubled complex that drew the wrath of city officials two months ago when inspections found numerous smoke detectors and fire alarms that didn't work, along with other code violations.

Tampa fire Capt. Bill Wade said today's fire, which appeared to be electrical in nature, started in the bathroom area of Apt. 306 in Building K. The complex is on Rome Avenue north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

No injuries were reported.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

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Plant City man charged in shooting

PLANT CITY -- One Plant City man was jailed and another hospitalized after an argument turned violent Monday night, according to the Plant City Police Department.

Police said Jose O. Colon, 46, of 508 N Gordon St. in Plant City, (pictured) shot 22-year-old Jean Claude Lee in the chest outside Colon's home about 10:40 p.m.

Lee was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with life-threatening injuries, and Colon was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail. Colon was charged with attempted felony murder and is being held without bail. Lee was in fair condition.

Colon and Lee have each been arrested several times in Florida. According to state records, Colon was charged in 1997 and 1999 with soliciting prostitution and in 2002 with domestic violence battery. Lee's record includes charges of aggravated battery and drug possession.

Kim Wilmath, Times staff writer

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Pinellas Park man accused of sexual and physical abuse

PINELLAS PARK -- Thomas Allen McGuire was arrested Monday night on multiple allegations that he sexually and physically abused children.

McGuire, 43, was arrested on six counts of promoting sexual performance by a child, two counts of sexual battery and one count of child abuse.

McGuire is accused of giving a young girl alcohol the night of July 6, then engaging in multiple sex acts with the victim.

From July 22 to Sept. 15, police reports say McGuire had a female child strip nude for him at least a dozen times while he performed a sex act on himself.

Then on Nov. 2, McGuire is accused of shoving a young girl into a dresser and injuring her arm.

The reports do not identify the victim or age in any of the incidents, nor do they state if the same victim is involved in all the alleged incidents.

The Pinellas Park Police Department could not be reached for comment today. McGuire is being held without bail in the Pinellas County jail.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

[Photo: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]

Driver accused of drunkenly ramming police car

ST. PETERSBURG -- The first clue that Robert Joseph Costie may have been drinking and driving early Monday morning: the crushed rear end of a St. Petersburg police cruiser.

Costie's 2004 Honda crashed into the back of that marked police car, authorities say, while the officer was stopped at a red light around 3:20 a.m. Monday at Gandy Boulevard and Fourth Street N.

Costie then performed poorly on field-sobriety tests, police said. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.175 and 0.181 -- more than twice the level, 0.08, at which Florida presumes a driver is impaired.

The 27-year-old Costie, of 501 116th Ave. N, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of DUI. The report did not disclose whether the officer driving the cruiser was injured.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

[Photo: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]

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Man accused of kicking cops, damaging cruiser

KENNETH CITY -- Police say John Joseph Crinan surrendered peacefully on Sunday -- at first.

He allowed Kenneth City police officers to remove him from his girlfriend's place, where authorities say he was trespassing. He let officers handcuff him. He let them put him in the back of a police cruiser.

Then Crinan seemed to have a change of heart.

"The officers look over," said Lt. Kevin Matson, "and he's kicking the heck out of the window."

What followed, police say, left Crinan doused with pepper spray, one of the officers with a badly sprained shoulder and a police cruiser with $1,700 worth of damage.

For some reason, Crinan furiously began kicking while inside the cruiser. When two officers tried to get him to stop, the report said, he kicked them, too. Then he kicked the window out of the rear passenger door.

Crinan, 41, 425 Third St. N in St. Petersburg, was arrested on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one count each of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and trespassing. He's being held in the county jail in lieu of $22,500 bail.

What did Crinan have to say for himself? "I'm really wasted," he reportedly told police.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer

[Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]

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Young and old celebrate Veterans Day at Bay Pines

Vietnam veteran Kenneth Brown of Largo came for the fallen comrade whom he never got to know.

Air Force veteran Tina Crisp of St. Petersburg came for her late husband, Air Force Master Sgt. David Crisp.

And Bay Pines emergency medical technician and Navy veteran Scott Keith came for his 7-month-old daughter, so that she may never have to be in a war.

All three stood in a shaded grove at Bay Pines VA Medical Center for a poignant Veterans Day salute this morning. Hundreds of veterans representing each military order and each major war gathered with them to hear local elected officials and military leaders reflect on their service and discuss the current state of affairs at area bases.

Ybor roosters get a reprieve

TAMPA -- Trapper Mike Martinez had never met a neighborhood that actually wanted to keep its wild chicken population.

But Ybor City has rallied around its roosters. And now Martinez will let them stay.

Instead of capturing them and taking them to Pasco and Polk counties, as was his initial plan, Martinez will tag each of them with tiny, color-coded bracelets and monitor their population.

He hopes that doing so will help Ybor keep some control over its roosters, which have become part of the historic neighborhood's tradition.

The trapper initially came into the neighborhood as a response to complaints that roosters were strutting into a business, scaring off patrons.

Now Martinez has reason to believe someone has been poisoning the chickens. He plans to spend his day interviewing people about that. He says he plans to get the county's Animal Services department involved.

Tommy Stephens, known for feeding the roosters, still intends to protest neighborhood complaints this Sunday at 3 p.m. at his home at 1908 E Fifth Ave.

Alexandra Zayas, Times staff writer

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Portion of N Dale Mabry to close next week

TAMPA -- N Dale Mabry Highway will be under construction from Interstate 275 to Laurel Street, causing nighttime closings starting Monday though Nov. 20.

John McShaffrey, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation, said Tampa Electric Co. will be installing new lines in the area, and the northbound Dale Mabry exits off I-275 will be closed from both directions from midnight to 5 a.m.

During those hours, southbound traffic on Dale Mabry won't be able to go past Spruce Street and northbound Dale Mabry traffic won't be allowed past I-275.

A detour will direct eastbound and westbound traffic toward Spruce Street or Cypress Street, and northbound and southbound traffic to Lois Avenue, he said.

"It definitely will add a little more time to anybody's travels in that time of night," McShaffrey said. "We're mainly talking commercial traffic."

Kim Wilmath, Times staff writer

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St. Petersburg resident injured in home invasion

A St. Petersburg resident was tied up and beaten during a home invasion on 18th Ave. S this morning, according to police.

A 911 caller at 2045 18th Ave. S. reported the incident at about 5:45 a.m., according to police.

At least two suspects, one of them armed with a gun, broke into the home and assaulted a male resident, police said. An ambulance took the victim to Bayfront Medical Center. His injuries were not life-threatening.

No one has been apprehended, and police are still investigating.

Luis Perez, Times staff writer

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