More rain coming after Sunday's record downpour

Mark Brusiloff of St. Petersburg throws his cast net Monday near the Pinellas Bayway.

[Scott Keeler | Times]

TAMPA -- Tired of the rain?  It's not over.

The fog that enveloped parts of the Tampa Bay area this morning is just the beginning of a damp Monday after Sunday's record rainfall, weather forecasters say.

In Tampa Sunday, a record-setting 2.05 inches fell at Tampa International Airport -- about four times April's monthly average of 0.41 inches, Reynes said.

The sun is expected to peek through this morning, but the sea breeze will move inland and bring thunderstorms with it, said meteorologist Nick Petro with the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see some heavy downpours develop," he said.

Despite a soupy morning and afternoon showers, forecasters say a more pleasant forecast is headed our way.

"We'll get sunshine," he said. "It's coming."

That's quite the departure from the weekend, when a slow-moving front joined heavy, pervasive low-level moisture resulting in a Sunday soaking.

"Basically, we had one of those incidents that covered the entire state," said meteorologist Anthony Reynes. "We haven't had that in a while."

Here's a glance at other area totals Sunday as projected by the National Weather Service in Ruskin:

Tampa International Airport -  2.05
Sarasota - 1.19
St. Petersburg (Albert Whitted Airport) - 1.33
St. Petersburg- Clearwater Airport - 2.25 inches
Ruskin - 1.41
Winter Haven - 5.11

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Investigators question 4th man in airport theft ring

TAMPA -- A fourth suspect wanted in connection with a theft ring at Tampa International Airport came to the airport police offices this afternoon.

"He's being interviewed now,"  airport police Chief Paul Sireci said shortly after 3 p.m.

Rene Omar Lopez, 29, of Tampa either had some valuables that were stolen from Continental Airline luggage "or he knew how to get these properties for other people,'' Sireci said.

Sireci said Lopez was being sought as part of an ongoing investigation into the thefts of cameras, cell phones, laptop computers and other valuables. The suspects worked for Delta Global Services, a baggage handling contractor, and were responsible for loading items on and off planes, Sireci said.

Three of the contractor's employees were arrested Friday.

"It was an operation that, 'My friend needs a cell phone so I'll find a cell phone for him,' " Sireci said.

--Times staff writer Bill Coats

TIA baggage handlers face stolen property charges

TAMPA -- Three baggage handlers were arrested by Tampa International Airport police Friday for dealing in stolen property taken from passengers' luggage.

Authorities said the men were subcontractors who worked for Delta Global Services, a company hired by Continental Airlines. An arrest report listed several recovered stolen items that included laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, sunglasses and a GPS device.

Detectives say they are working to find all the victims, and a TIA spokeswoman had no comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

Among those arrested, Ernie A. Azucey, 23, of 8510 N Hyaleah Rd., Tampa, has the heftiest bond at $247,500. Police charged him with 33 counts of dealing in stolen property.

Efrain "Junjo" Malave-Bermudez Jr., 34, of 6720 S Lois Ave., Apt. 7108, Tampa, faces seven counts of dealing in stolen property. His bond has been set at $52,500.

Charged with four counts of dealing in stolen property, Juan David Ayende-Nieves, 52, of 2004 E Lave Ave, Apt. D, is the only man among the three to post bail and be released. His bond was set at $30,000.

Continental officials tracked the thefts through a laptop outfitted with a tracking device by Absolute Software Security Co. The airline placed the laptop on a Houston-bound flight on March 12 and reported it stolen to airport police in Houston when it never arrived.

The tracking device would initiate once someone activated the laptop and connected it to the Internet, the arrest report said.

The security company's software system detected the computer's use on March 25 when an unidentified woman used it to access a MySpace account. She continued using the Internet the next two days, and on Friday, detectives contacted her. She told investigators that the laptop came from her boyfriend's father, Ayende-Nieves, one of the baggage handlers.

When investigators contacted Ayende-Nieves, police said he told them that he believed the property was stolen because it was so cheap. He said he bought the laptop for $350 from Azucey.

An arrest report says that Azucey told police he brought the laptop from a man named Rene Lopez, whom he had seen steal property from checked bags in the past. Information on Lopez's connection, charges or possible arrest weren't immediately available.

From Azucey's home, detectives recovered a Dell laptop, three cell phones, five digital cameras, nine pair of sunglasses, two FM transmitters, two iPods, a Garmin GPS device, seven phone charges, an MP3 player, a calculator, a card reader and three pair of headphones. Police said Azucey told them he purchased all those items from Lopez.

-Kevin Graham, Times staff writer

American Airlines flights canceled

TAMPA --  Would-be American Airlines passengers never got off the ground this morning after learning the jets they were scheduled to board will undergo a federal safety inspection.

Nationwide, about 200 flights are affected. By midmorning in Tampa, American had canceled seven outbound flights to Dallas, Chicago and New York's LaGuardia Airport. The latest cancellation was American Flight 1395, a 1 p.m. departure to Dallas.

After that, all the airline's flights were scheduled to leave close to their regularly scheduled times. But passengers heading into Tampa also were running into problems. American canceled seven inbound flights from Dallas, Chicago and St. Louis, said Kelly Figley, a spokesman at Tampa International.

This morning at TIA, frustrated passengers slumped against the American Airlines ticket counter in a line that stretched hundreds deep.

Standing at the back was Paul Caplan, 55, of Chicago.

"Your flight is canceled, period," Caplan said American personnel told him.

He was on the phone all morning with Orbitz and other online airline ticket providers searching for a new flight home to Chicago. For now, he's stuck in line and on hold.

Maybe he'll get home today. Maybe he'll spend another day in the warm weather.

"The only bad option," he said, "is standing in line and waiting all day."

By noon the long lines had subsided, with many people slated to take the canceled morning flights receiving travel vouchers and clearing out to nearby hotels.

After his morning ordeal, Caplan is renting a car, driving to Boca Raton this afternoon and leaving from Fort Lauderdale at 6 a.m. Friday.

"There's no direct flights," he said. "So that's it."

Others, like Bill Murray, a 71-year-old retired carpet salesman from Zephyrhills, were luckier. Fearing the worst after an hourlong wait in line, he was handed a ticket on a 1:40 p.m. flight to Dallas -- about one hour after his original flight was scheduled to depart.

"I lucked out," he said. "I couldn't even complain."

The airline was substituting a larger Boeing 767 for one inbound flight from Dallas to move more passengers into Tampa, she said, but that wouldn't come close to accommodating all the displaced travelers. "They're trying really hard to get people out, but it is spring break, so the flights are really full,'' Figley said.

There were no cancellations of American flights to and from Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, because the airline uses different models of aircraft for those flights.

Airport authorities said the inspections concern wire harnesses, but they declined to elaborate. The inspections are scrutinizing MD-80 jets, sometimes called "Super 80" jets.

The Associated Press reports that nationwide American has canceled about 200 flights, less than 10 percent of its scheduled service. About 50 departures each were canceled at American's hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare international airports.

The MD-80 is the workhorse of the American fleet, reported CNNMoney.com. American's Web site says the aircraft accounts for 300 of the airline's fleet of 655 jets.

The need for the new inspections became known during an audit of American by a joint team of inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Fort Worth-based airline, according to a statement from American.

"We are reinspecting the MD-80s to make sure the wiring is installed and secured exactly according to the directive," American spokesman Tim Wagner said in the statement, which did not describe the function of the wiring.

"We are in the process of completing the inspections on the remaining airplanes and will return them to service on a rolling basis throughout the day," Wagner said.

Meanwhile, passengers are left reeling. In a process that would "escalate" and "ripple" throughout the day, Ed Cooley, senior director of operations at TIA, said American Airlines is in the process of sending at least two additional aircraft to Tampa to collect passengers from the canceled flights.

"It's going to be a balancing situation because obviously airplanes are out of place now, flight crews are out of place," Cooley said. "So they're going to have to rebalance the system, and that's probably going to take pretty much all of the day today."

Service interruptions to American Airlines flights are expected all day. Airport official advise American Airlines customers to contact the airline for updated travel information.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Southwest grounds 41 jets; no TIA flights affected

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines says it grounded 41 planes Tuesday in the wake of its recent admission that it had missed required inspections of some planes for structural cracks.

Spokeswoman Christi Day says the move resulted in some flights being canceled Wednesday, but she didn't have a precise figure. No flights at Tampa International Airport were affected, airport officials said.

The move comes as Southwest faces a $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to fly nearly 50 planes after the airline admitted that it had missed required inspections of the planes.

Southwest also put three employees on leave after being notified of the penalty by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Associated Press

Man with hidden box cutter at TIA security indicted

TAMPA -- A federal grand jury has indicted Benjamin Baines Jr., a 22-year-old Clearwater man accused of trying to smuggle a box cutter in a book through security at Tampa International Airport last month.

The felony federal charge of attempting to carry a dangerous weapon on an aircraft is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Baines already is serving a 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty Feb. 18 to state charges of carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor.

The federal grand jury handed up its indictment Wednesday.

Baines was scheduled to board Southwest Airlines Flight 338 to Jacksonville on Feb. 17, then catch another plane to Las Vegas, when an X-ray image of a box cutter showed up inside his backpack at TIA security. Officials found the box cutter hidden in a hollowed-out book.

Baines told investigators he forgot the box cutter was inside the copy of Fear Itself. Baines told airport police he had cut out the pages of the book to keep marijuana and money from being stolen by roommates.

- Kevin Graham, Times staff writer

Plane makes emergency landing at local airport

Airport officials said today that Sarasota-bound flight made an emergency landing at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport because of a mechanical problem, the Associated Press reports. Michele Routh, a spokeswoman for the airport, said the USA 3000 Airlines flight from Chicago landed here about 9:30 p.m. Monday. A subsequent inspection of the plane showed no problems, Routh said.

Fake bomb slips through Tampa airport security

TAMPA -- A fake bomb slipped past security at Tampa International Airport, CNN reports.

A tester from the federal Transportation Security Administration told officers that the device wrapped around his lower back was a back brace. "He gets through, which in real life would mean a terrorist was headed toward a plane with a bomb," CNN reports.

The TSA hires and trains security officers to check passengers at the airport; calls for comment were not immediately returned.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Local officials endorse Obama

TAMPA -- Several elected officials from Tampa are endorsing Democrat Barack Obama this morning, on the eve of Florida's presidential preference primary.

State Rep. Betty Reed and Tampa City Council members Linda Saul-Sena, Gwen Miller and Mary Mulhern will be throwing their support to Obama at a rally in Lykes Gaslight Square Park this morning. The candidate won't be there to receive the accolades; all the Democratic presidential candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida after the state moved its primary to Jan. 29 in defiance of Democratic Party rules.

-- Justin George, Times staff writer

Former cop gets 5 years for child porn

TAMPA -- A former Largo police officer who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography will spend five years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew sentenced Jamie Bogdan, who now lives in Fort Myers Beach, on Wednesday. He served as a Largo police officer for 2 1/2 years and resigned on Oct. 17, the day agents confronted him at his home.

Authorities said Bogdan had downloaded 1,700 images of child pornography of victims ranging in age from 6 months to 13 years old.

The court ordered that Bogdan serve his sentence at the federal prison in Coleman or a prison facility in western New York.

Travelers don't let fear stop them

TAMPA – They thought about significance of the day, of course, but for many travelers on today’s sixth anniversary of 9/11, their decision to fly was made on purpose and with resolve.

Dozens of travelers at Tampa International Airport this morning said they will not let fear of terrorist attacks intrude on their travel plans or their lives.

A moment of silence was observed to mark the time when the first plane struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

But otherwise, today seemed like any other hectic day of travel with people coming and going for jobs, weddings and vacations near and far.

Patrick Connors, 31, of Sarasota showed up two hours early for his Southwest Airlines flight to Colorado, where he will spend a week with a friend who just returned from a year’s duty in Iraq with the National Guard.

"We have to remember," Connors said while drinking a Starbucks coffee before his 8:55 a.m. flight. "But we can’t live in fear. That’s exactly what the terrorists want."

Bob and Joan Barry of Bayonet Point gave the day’s date a "passing thought" but decided to go ahead with their trip to see family and attend a high school reunion in Massachusetts.

"When I booked the flight I said, it’s probably more secure to fly on that day than any other day," said Mrs. Barry, 70.

"I think it’s safer today to fly than it’s ever been," agreed her husband, a retired vice president for Merrill Lynch. “It'll probably take a little more time with all the security checks.’’

"We don’t mind a little inconvenience for more security,'' his wife said.

Valrico resident Diana Morales, 68, bubbled with excitement before her plane left for a missionary trip to Honduras. Was she afraid?

"I’m excited,'' said the retired teacher, who was traveling with a group of 11 from Faith Tabernacle in Tampa. “My day for dying has already been set up by God. I’m not concerned."

-- Melanie Ave, Times staff writer