Trial set in McDonald's french fry arrest

No deal and no guilty plea, says a 75-year-old Clearwater woman briefly jailed in January after a confrontation with a police officer at a McDonald's drive-through.

Jean Merola (left) has turned down the state's offer to plead guilty and pay an $88 fine on a charge of  violating a city ordinance alleging that she obstructed a right of way.

Instead, she is scheduled to go to trial on July 10.

"I just want my day in court," Merola said outside a Pinellas County courtroom today. To her, the principle at stake -- that she doesn't want to admit guilt when she believes she didn't do anything wrong -- is what's most important.

Police, medical examiner rule 'D.C. Madam's' death a suicide

The scene last week outside the mobile home where Deborah Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam," hanged herself in a storage shed under the carport of her mother's Tarpon Springs home. The mobile home was tucked in the back of the Sun Valley Estates mobile home park. [JIM DAMASKE | Times]

TARPON SPRINGS -- Last week's death of 52-year-old Deborah Jean Palfrey -- the woman known as the 'D.C. Madam' -- has been ruled a suicide by the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiners Office, police said today.

Police said they had no reason to believe that Palfrey's death on Thursday was anything but a suicide. Palfrey's body was discovered hanging in a shed beside the home of her mother, Blanche Palfrey, in the Sun Valley Estates mobile home park on U.S. 19.

In suicide notes released by police this morning, Palfrey told her family she regretted leaving them to deal with her death, but was unable to face prison and saw no other way out. She also left a short note saying she was not to be revived or, if found alive, fed under any circumstances.

Monkey capture could take days

LAKELAND -- The monkeys are still on the loose.

Fifteen monkeys swam across a moat last weekend and escaped the island where Lex Salisbury, the chief executive of Lowry Park Zoo, was keeping them. The people looking for them say recapturing them could take a week. Or more.

Escaping, as it turns out, is what these monkeys do best.

More specifically, these are patas monkeys, the fastest primates on earth, with a top recorded speed of 35 mph. They make Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson look like joggers. Their bodies resemble greyhounds. According to the Web site of the Honolulu Zoo, their reddish coats and white mustaches make them look like grumpy, retired British colonels.

Plus they're smart. One will stand guard, acting as a noisy decoy if necessary, while the rest of the group sprints silently away through the tall grass, the Web site said.

In other words this is delicate.

"You just don't go in there with a bunch of people and stir up the place," Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said Wednesday afternoon. Salisbury is leading the effort to find his monkeys, but the commission is helping out. "It makes it impossible to catch the animals."

Operation Monkeybars, as it is now called, involves the strategic placement of apples, bananas and monkey chow. Also cages. But not all at once. First the monkeys have to get used to finding the food. Then fresh food goes in the cages.

Then, perhaps, for the hungry, swift, cunning, grumpy British colonels, the Florida vacation will end with the snap of a trap door.

--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

[Patas monkey photo from AP Photo]

Gator woman on 'Today': 'I can't believe all of this!'

ST. PETERSBURG -- The 8-foot, 8-inch alligator that became Sandra Frosti's uninvited guest landed the Pinellas County woman on NBC's Today show this morning.

Frosti, 69, left, gained notoriety this week after an alligator appeared in the kitchen of her East Lake condo late Monday.

In an interview with Today host Meredith Viera, above, Frosti recalled the harrowing discovery and subsequent trapping of the gator. She said the trappers asked her to pet the animal before they hauled it off.

"The top is hard, like a rock," she said.

Worse than cockroaches: Finding an 8-foot gator on your kitchen floor

[Image courtesy Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
View more photos

EAST LAKE -- Around 10:30 p.m. Monday, Sandra Frosti heard an intruder bumping around in her kitchen.

Turns out, the noise was made by an 8-foot, 8-inch alligator that had crawled into the 69-year-old's kitchen in Eastlake Woodlands.

The female alligator apparently pushed through a screened panel on the back porch, shouldered its way past a potted ficus tree, then got inside the house through an open rear sliding glass door. Once inside, it crawled through the living room, down the hall and into the kitchen.

When Frosti looked into the kitchen, she saw the beast's head. She called 911 and left the house. Click here for audio of the 911 call.

Tiny $1,000 puppy stolen from Lutz pet store

LUTZ -- Authorities are looking for a thief who snatched a tiny puppy with a big price tag -- $1,000 -- from a Lutz pet store Wednesday.

The suspect is a man, 17 to 19 years old, 5 feet 10-inches tall and 150 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing dark pajama-style pants and a light-colored T-shirt.

The puppy is a 10-week-old tea cup chihuahua that weights 1 pound 8 ounces, has no name and costs $1,000.

The suspect went to the Puppy Love Store, 5933 N Florida Ave., to ask about the puppy Tuesday, and when he returned the next day, he picked up the puppy and ran out the front door, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies ask anyone with any information about the theft to call (813) 247-8200 or 1-800-873-8477.

-- Amber Mobley, Times Staff Writer

Authorities: Man threw toddler, beat him with bat

TAMPA -- On the evening of Feb. 21, a 2-year-old boy suffered head and eye injuries, including massive swelling. Authorities determined that Christopher Todd Pullie, 23, was the only adult watching him at the time of the incident.

According to the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, Pullie said that while playing, he threw the boy in the air and the boy's head hit the blade of a fan, after which he fell and hit his head again -- this time on a coffee table.

In addition, the boy said Pullie hit him on the head with a bat: a foam T-ball bat with a hard plastic core.
Pullie, of 4115 Chatham Oak St., in the Carrollwood area, was charged with child neglect and aggravated child abuse. He was held Thursday in lieu of $32,500 bail.

Thomas Lake, Times staff writer

Man accused of forced home abortion on minor

LAKELAND -- A 21-year-old Fort Pierce man is accused of nearly killing a child after impregnating her and then forcing a home abortion on her.

Papouche Edmond, left, was arrested Wednesday in Polk County on charges of lewd battery on child under 12, aggravated child abuse, impregnating a minor, aggravated battery and tampering with evidence.

Port St. Lucie police and St. Lucie Sheriff's detectives had been tracking Edmond for months. CrimeStoppers received a tip from south Florida that Edmond was hiding at an address in Lakeland. The U.S. Marshals Tampa Bay Area Fugitive Task Force responded to the home, arresting Edmond on the outstanding warrants.

U.S. Marshals spokesman Marc Howard said Edmond's victim, whose specific age was not available tonight, almost died as a result of the injuries she sustained when he terminated her pregnancy in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Edmond is being held in Polk County without bond and awaits transfer to St. Lucie County.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

State Attorney's Office reviews Sterner arrest

From the Today show on NBC. Click to enlarge

Watch Today show clip.

Previous coverage: Treatment of disabled man attracts national spotlight

The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office is reviewing the Oct. 25 arrest that led to quadriplegic Brian Strerner's booking into the Orient Road Jail in January, but the investigation into the conduct of four suspended sheriff's deputies remains in-house with the sheriff's Internal Affairs department, Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said today.

“We don’t just see something on TV and go out and make an arrest,” she said. “We let the Sheriff’s Office complete their internal affairs investigation first. That’s how it’s done in every case.”

Earlier this morning, Sterner told Today show host Meredith Vieira that he wants a personal apology from Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee for the way he was treated at the jail last month. This afternoon, Gee did just that.

Sterner also said he wants a criminal investigation followed by action from Gov. Charlie Crist's office, and possibly the federal government.

"It's not about one deputy," said Sterner, 32, who flew to New York City on Tuesday to appear this morning on the NBC show. He said he wants more attention paid to the "ridiculous down-pressing of people across the world."

"It's not about race. It's not about a wheelchair," he said. "It can happen to anybody at any time."

Surveillance video footage of a Hillsborough detention deputy dumping the quadriplegic Sterner from a wheelchair blasted across news Web sites and YouTube on Tuesday (watch it here).

Meanwhile, the roommate of the suspended deputy said their house phone has rung nonstop.

"It's not even just in Florida," said Beverly Crecy, who was outside the home, checking the mail. "These calls are from out of state. People calling her 'n-----' and 'fat' and all kinds of stuff. Seven o'clock in the morning and all through the night."

Earlier in the day, a published report suggested that Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones made her first public comments since the video surfaced. Crecy said the reporter may have spoken to her, but not Marshall-Jones. She said the Sheriff's Office advised Marshall-Jones against making any statements.

Crecy tearfully praised Marshall-Jones' 22 years of service to the Sheriff's Office.

"People run us down in the store trying to give us food and stuff like she's a politician because she is a good deputy," she said. "And she does her job and she's passionate about her job and for them to sully her name the way that they're doing is not right. And I'm not going to give you or anybody else anything that is going to further hurt her. She doesn't deserve this.

"This is the job nobody wants. How many people watching the TV and calling us and passing judgment on us is willing to put that uniform on. We holler obscenities out at them and hate them, but as soon as somebody walks in our yard, we want them to come put their lives on the line for us, people they don't even know. And then this is how they want to treat us? It's not fair."

Three other deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. One of those deputies is Steve Dickey, 45. Dickey, who has served as president of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office detention chapter of the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, said he didn't see what happened to Sterner.

"All I can tell you is that I was not there when the incident took place. I wasn't in the area. I wasn't there. I wasn't in that part of the jail," he said. "If you've seen the full video, then you see that."

Dickey does not appear in the frames of the video where Sterner is dumped from the wheelchair. Dickey, a thick-framed man with a crew cut, comes into the video as the deputies are putting Sterner back into the wheelchair.

Dickey, who just started his 27th year with the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, said he couldn't go into more detail about what was said by deputies that day.

"I am not trying to be difficult with this at all, but you have to remember that this is an investigation," he said. "You have to remember that I have a job I have to keep." 

In New York, Sterner sat next to his Largo attorney, John Trevena. He said neither he nor his doctor have seen any X-rays since the Jan. 29 fall. Sterner, who is paralyzed from the chest down, said his right side has felt "strange" since the fall.

"I very well could've broken something and I wouldn't even know it," he said.

Jail officials said X-rays taken at a jail medical facility two days after Sterner's fall showed no broken ribs. Vieira, the host, said the Sheriff's Office declined to be interviewed for the show and did not send a written statement.

Trevena said he spoke with Sheriff Gee late Tuesday. He said Gee apologized and intends to refer the case to the Hillsborough County State's Attorney's Office for review.

"Having something like this captured on videotape really sends the message home that we really need to
take close look at what's going in our jails and prisons," Trevena said. "I think these types of things happened fairly routinely, and it's only when you have unequivocal evidence like this that something can be done about it."

At the end of the interview, Sterner said he was going to the national stage as a platform for change. He hopes "this negative way of dealing with life and people will change."

"Just like Rodney King got beat in the street and I got thrown out of my wheelchair, it happens to people
every day," he said. "It's just that now there's cameras that catch it."

"And you plan to fight it?" Vieira asks.

Said Sterner: "Damn right."

Sterner is also scheduled to tell his story on Inside Edition and CNN.

- Casey Cora, Rodney Thrash and Abbie VanSickle, Times staff writers

Thief gets away with $1,900 in perfume

TEMPLE TERRACE -- Police are trying to sniff out a shoplifter who got away with $1,900 in perfume from a local pharmacy.

The thief (left) walked into the CVS Pharmacy, 110 Bullard Parkway, on Jan. 21 about 9 p.m., talking on his cell phone and browsing before picking up a basket and filling it with perfume products, authorities say.

"Some of the perfume is locked up in a case," said Temple Terrace police Detective Patricia Stanton. "But some of the gift sets were not locked up, and to my understanding some of them were pretty high dollar."

He then walked out of the store with the basket and got into a late-model, black four-dour sedan with a license plate number beginning with X81.

Stanton said she thinks the products will be resold, but she doesn't know where.

"This is the second time this has happened at this particular store," she said. "The first time was on Jan. 8, but we're not aware if it was the same suspect."

Police ask anyone with information to call (813) 989-7090. 

- Robbyn Mitchell, Times staff writer

Hulk Hogan accused of 'legal shenanigans' by wife

CLEARWATER -- Linda Bollea asked a judge this week to stop her estranged husband, reality TV star and former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, from spending $10-million that she says came when the family sold a home in Florida in August.

In a court filing, Linda Bollea also accuses Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, of trying to trick her into signing a post-nuptial agreement and other "legal shenanigans."

Mrs. Bollea's new pleadings accuse Terry Bollea and his lawyers of missing deadlines to turn over financial records. Her attorneys also contend that Terry Bollea enlisted Tampa attorney Les Barnett in an attempt to trick her into signing a post-nuptial agreement last fall.

Voter questions delay Tierra Verde hearing

ST. PETERSBURG –- Snags in the election process, including a dead man who may be still on the voter rolls, prompted the city to delay a public hearing on a controversial annexation of several parcels in Tierra Verde.

City officials did not mention the dead man today when announcing the postponement, but referred to the possibility that voters are possibly living in a marina on land that could be annexed.

“Belatedly, they’ve discovered that there are people on live-aboards who are registered to vote,” said Dave Healey, executive director of the Pinellas Planning Council. The council acts as an advisory body to the commission on annexations and other issues.

“There was (also) a person who was registered to vote who is now deceased,” Healey added.

Healey said the PPC postponed consideration of the proposed annexation Wednesday because of questions concerning the provision of fire service should the lands be annexed. But, Healey said, the voter issue also was mentioned. If voters live there, St. Petersburg would have to choose a different method of annexation.

“I think it’s got to be sorted out,” Healey said.

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark did not return phone messages asking for comment. Instead, she had senior assistant county attorney Betsy Steg speak for her. Steg said that the developer discovered the live voters. But, Steg said, “I don’t know that anyone’s dead.”

Steg said she had no information about why a dead person may have been left on the voter rolls. The elections office usually gets a death certificate, which indicates someone is to be taken off the rolls, she said.

Steg was unable to answer questions about the effect of live voters on the annexation process.

“I'm not the right person to talk to about anything in land-use stuff,” she said.

- Anne Lindberg, Times staff writer

She really wanted a Whopper

TAMPA -- Maybe she'd seen too many commercials.

A 13-year-old girl demanded to have it her way Saturday morning at a Hillsborough Avenue Burger King.

Little more than an hour after she was released from a juvenile assessment center, the girl barged into the fast food restaurant, brandishing a kitchen knife. There, in bare feet and pajamas, the teen came up to employee Ian Bowers and shouted, "Give me a burger!"

Instead of granting the wish, Bowers ran. The girl chased him through the Burger King kitchen, knife in the air. "Give me a (expletive) cheeseburger now!" she said, according to a witness.

Other employees stopped the girl and held her until police arrived. No one was injured. The girl, whose name is withheld because of her age, told officers she was hungry and wanted a burger.

The teen faces charges of armed burglary, armed robbery, and violation of home detention, police say.

For the record, she didn't get a Whopper. Police returned her to the juvenile assessment center. The lunch options there? Peanut butter and jelly or a bologna sandwich.

-- Abbie VanSickle, Times Staff Writer

Man gets away by stealing deputy's car

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County deputies often arrest people for car theft, but on Thursday they encountered a man who took it to a whole new level -- stealing the car of the people arresting him. Click here to read more from today's St. Petersburg Times.

Job application led to burglary arrest, police say

CLEARWATER –- Here's an important lesson, courtesy of the Clearwater police, who say they picked it up from Jimmy L. Walker, 48, of Clearwater:

Don't apply for a job at a business that you might later burglarize, and don't burglarize a business where you have applied for a job.

That's exactly what police say Walker did on Christmas Day, by smashing a side window to break into the Sunshine Car Wash in Clearwater and take $400 from the register.

On New Year’s Eve, he came back to take a tip box containing $9, police said.

Walker wore socks on his hands during the Christmas Day break-in, police say, but a surveillance camera captured his image during both incidents.

Unfortunately for him, a manager at the carwash recognized Walker because he had recently dropped off an application to work there, authorities said.

Walker was arrested on Jan. 3. He is being held in the Pinellas County Jail without bail on two counts of burglary, one count of petty theft and one count of violating his probation on a Pasco County charge of grand theft.

- Jonathan Abel, Times staff writer

Polk suspect is a man last seen in sundress and heels

Polk County Sheriff detectives are asking for help in identifying a man who solicited a juvenile to commit a lewd act between 2:30 and 3 p.m. today in the Eagle Lake area.

According to sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers, the man is either Caucasian, Asian or Hispanic and driving a dark blue Jeep Liberty. He was also dressed as a woman, "wearing a black and white flowered sundress, silver high heels with gemstones on them, a dark brown wig with the hair pulled up in a clip and large sunglasses."

Anyone with information on the incident can contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office, toll-free at 1-800-226-0344, or Crime Stoppers, at 1-800-226-8477.

Ken Walker, Times staff writer

Police: Ex-Idol Sierra punched off-duty officer, offered sexual favors to officers

Jessica Sierra multimedia report
View our extended transformation photo gallery, watch video of Sierra's first appearance in which the judge suggests she find a "new form of entertainment," and watch surveillance video from the night of her arrest.

* * *

After wrestling on the ground after her ejection from an Ybor City club, former American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra punched an off-duty police officer in the face before spewing racial slurs and offering the arresting officers sexual favors for her release, according to a Tampa Police news release.

Sierra, 22, was tossed from the Full Moon Saloon on Saturday after police said she became belligerent. Outside the club, Sierra walked away but turned back, charging toward a group of clubgoers and yelling profanities, police said.

When officers tried to arrest her, she pushed away and tried to flee, police said. While in custody, police said, Sierra "went back and forth from being combative to apologetic."

Sierra was charged with disorderly intoxication and obstructing or opposing an officer without violence. Just two weeks ago, Sierra avoided jail time after pleading no contest to felony charges stemming from an incident in April in which she was accused of throwing a cocktail glass at a Hyde Park Cafe patron.

- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Booking photo courtesy of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

Elderly woman found dead in home with 20 dogs, feces

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation into the death of a woman at 16034 Frost Drive in Hudson.

Sheriff's office spokesman Doug Tobin said the initial investigation did not show any signs of foul play -- deputies received a call from Pasco Fire Rescue shortly before noon Wednesday after someone visiting the home found the resident, a woman between 70 and 80 years old, dead. 

The victim's name has not been released pending notification of her next of kin and positive identification.

Deputies investigating the death are contending with at least 20 dogs kept in the house, which had not been cleaned in quite some time.

"Dog feces filled the home," Tobin said in his statement. "One detective working the case said it was the worst condition he's ever seen in a home. The indication at this point is that this woman had moved into her garage and let the dogs live in the main house. It appeared the house had not been cleaned of dog feces for some time."

Animal Control and Hazmat officials were called to the scene to help with the investigation. County officials may have to decide whether the home will be condemned.

Watch a tampabay.com video report here.

Times staff writer

Man fleeing police turns up dead with gator teeth marks

A suspected thief who plunged into a lake to flee authorities may have met his end at the jaws of an alligator, the Associated Press reports. The man's body was found the next day with gator teeth marks on his upper torso.

Desperate for Hannah

TAMPA -- They're still at it.

More than 24 hours have passed since 20 people desperate for tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert Nov. 19 at the St. Pete Times Forum began hanging onto a 12-ft. statue of the singer in the parking lot of WLFZ-FM 93.3.

The MJ in the Morning radio stunt began at 7:57 a.m. Thursday, and by 6 p.m. three already had dropped out. By this morning, the number of people still hanging on had dropped to 13.

The last one hanging on wins $5,000, but more important: four tickets to see Hannah, a.k.a. Miley Cyrus, the current object of obsession for the 6- to 12-year-old set. Some said they are prepared to stay there for a week.

Most are parents trying to score tickets for their kids, and some have heart-rending stories behind their quest.

A live web stream keeps you abreast of the obsession.

- Time staff writer

[Times photo | Carrie Pratt]

Rumor mill churning in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG - Here's another tale to file under the heading "urban myth.''

This one began with phone calls from one concerned resident to another. Then dozens of people got the same e-mail recounting a disturbing story.

Within days, the account of a jogger's near nightmare spread through the city’s chattering class like wildfire.

Police: Parents encouraged son, 14, to fight

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the possibility that the parents of a 14-year-old boy encouraged him to beat a 13-year-old boy in a public park as other teenagers watched.  Someone made a video recording that was posted on YouTube.

The fight took place at about 5 p.m. last Friday at Mitchell Park on Little Road. The mother of the 13-year-old said she had to take the boy to Morton Plant North Bay Hospital afterward because he was bent over with pain.

Sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin released a report on the incident Monday morning, but all the names had been blacked out because the investigation remains open. No arrests were immediately reported.

Tobin gave a reporter the Web address where the video had been posted, but it is no longer available. "This video has been removed by the user," the site said.

--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

Cemetery sued because it can't find lost remains

When the day came to bury an 83-year-old South Florida woman next to her husband, cemetery caretakers couldn't find his remains, the Miami Herald reports.The family may have been laying roses and saying prayers atop an empty plot for 17 years. The family is suing the cemetery, which says it is diligently trying to locate their loved one and put an end to the family's anguish.

'Fake dentist' used dead man's ID, cops say

A man in Hollywood used a dead dentist's identity to pass himself off as a dentist and join a dental practice, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel  reports. The man treated patients and answered to the name of the dead man until state health inspectors showed up, then  he confessed to knowing the doctor and stealing his identity, authorities said.

Woman helped new lover kill old one, cops say

A Miami woman who once had her lover's name tattooed on her neck has been accused of helping her new lover murder the old one, the Miami Herald reports. The old boyfriend was recently released from jail and wanted to get back with the woman who is mother of several of his children. She had a new boyfriend -- but she still had the old boyfriend's name tattooed on her neck.

Reader poll: Crystal River tavern's display

Halloween decor, or racism?
What do you think of the hanging body in the Halloween display outside the tavern in Crystal River?
It's a bad idea, but not racist.
It's a Halloween decoration, nothing more.
It's clearly racist.

A mannequin hangs by a noose next to a disembodied torso outside Softails Tavern near Crystal River. The display has brought at least six complaints to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. Click photo to enlarge. [Ron Thompson | Times]

Report: Pot leaf picture marks marijuana bags

When a Monroe County deputy stopped a convertible for speeding at 3:45 a.m., he found bottles of Bacardi Limon and Hennessy Cognac on the back seat and two plastic bags, each imprinted with a picture of a pot leaf and containing marijuana, the Key West Citizen reports. The occupants, a woman and two men, were arrested. They were on their way to Fantasy Fest in Key West.

'I cut myself shaving,' man says of genital bandage

When Collier County authorities were strip-searching a man who serves weekends in jail for a prior conviction, they found a bandage on his genitals, the Naples Daily News reports. A deputy asked the man what the bandage was for, and he replied, "I cut myself shaving." The man was told to remove the bandage. When he did, deputies found four yellow Xanax pills attached to the adhesive side of the bandage. Authorities booked the man on two felony charges.

7-year-old crashes family car; causes $10,000 damage

A 7-year-old Lehigh Acres boy grabbed the keys and drove the family Caravan out of the driveway, across a street, into a culvert, back across the street, over a small queen palm, by an avocado tree and into a pine tree in the back yard, the Fort Myers News Press reports. The child did about $10,000 worth of damage to the family’s car, which had to be towed from the scene. The boy was treated for minor injuries at a hospital. No charges will be filed against him, authorities said.

Widow of accused shoplifter sues sheriff, deputy for $5-million

The widow of a man accused of shoplifting who was fatally shot while fleeing a St. Johns County deputy has sued the sheriff and a deputy for negligence, excessive force and wrongful death, the St. Augustine Record reports. She is asking for $5-million. The suit claims the man was "cold-bloodedly shot ... in the back" by a deputy as he escaped from a St. Augustine Wal-Mart. Police reports say he threatened the store manager with a box-cutter-size knife and displayed the knife when the deputy tried to handcuff him.

'Cobraman' in critical condition after rattlesnake bite

A Port St. Lucie man known as "Cobraman" is in critical condition after his pet diamondback rattlesnake sank its fangs into his right hand Saturday, the Palm Beach Post reports. Raymond Hunter, who is known in South Florida as a guru on poisonous snakes, drove himself to a hospital but passed out at the wheel of his car in the parking lot.

Report: Ranch dressing triggers domestic battery

ZEPHYRHILLS -- James Roope, 20 years old and unemployed, is accused of smacking his mother's arm, poking her neck and shoving her against the dryer. It all started with ranch dressing.

Just after noon Sunday, according to an arrest report, Roope was in the kitchen, making lunch, when his mother asked him to use the ranch dressing that was already open.

This perturbed the young man and led to the violence, the report said.

Roope, of 2117 Hilda Ann Road, Zephyrhills, was arrested and charged with simple domestic battery. He was held without bail Monday in the Land O'Lakes jail.

The report did not make clear whether Roope had, in fact, opened a second bottle of ranch.

-Thomas Lake, Times staff writer

Wildlife officer dies pinned by ATV in the Everglades

A Florida wildlife officer was killed after her all-terrain vehicle crashed in a remote part of the Everglades and pinned her underneath for hours, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The 47-year-old officer was on patrol for poachers who often target alligators and deer at night. She struck a metal gate and was ejected from her ATV, which overturned and fell on top of her, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Snitch foils macabre plot hatched online

CITRUS SPRINGS -- Authorities on Friday arrested a Citrus County man who they said tried to persuade a St. Petersburg man to help him kill someone so they could use the body for sex, officials said.

Kevin Wade Daley, 50, of Citrus Springs was arrested on a charge of criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder. He was being held without bail at Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto.

According to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, Daley struck up a friendship over the Internet with a 44-year-old St. Petersburg man and, while chatting online, talked about his desire to kill someone and use the body for sex. The man, whose name was not released, instead alerted authorities on Oct. 11.

Daley later revealed his intended target, a 27-year-old Homosassa man who had done some work in his neighborhood, sheriff’s officials said. On Thursday, detectives decided to arrest Daley.

"This is not somebody you'd want as your next-door neighbor," said Gail Tierney, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

Jacob H. Fries, Times staff writer

Robbery suspect makes plea deal to testify in sham marriage case

A Daytona Beach bank robbery suspect has made a deal with federal prosecutors to testify against a Russian man she says paid her to marry him so he could stay in the United States, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

Lucille Tate, who last year pulled off a daring daylight robbery at a bank branch next to an FBI office, called a taxi to pick her up after the robbery. She left town with $2,399 in loot.

Now Tate has agreed to testify against Sergey Sobinov, who she says paid her about $10,000 to marry him. In exchange for her testimony, Tate was sentenced to drug treatment and probation.

Police find alligator foot in stolen car

Fort Pierce police were in the process of arresting two car theft suspects when they discovered a dried alligator's foot in the stolen car the suspects were in, the Palm Beach Post reports. A wildlife officer said the foot belonged to an alligator that was illegally trapped.

Cop suspended after rescuing murder suspect's dog

Barbie the Shetland sheepdog was probably going to be euthanized. Barbie belonged to a North Miami man suspected of killing his pal, stuffing him in a suitcase and dumping him out near the Everglades. The owner was going to jail pending trial, so a police sergeant took Barbie home and cared for her until the suspect's family surfaced. Then she took Barbie to the family. The sergeant was suspended, the Miami Herald reports.

Man 31, bites his roommate's ear off

A 31-year-old man faces an aggravated battery after deputies say he bit his roommate's ear off during a fight, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Gay inmate wedding leads to prison guard discipline

Corrections officers at Lowell Correctional allowed two female inmates to be joined in a wedding ceremony, prison officials said today, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The room was decorated with state paper towels and makeshift pink bows made from inmate request forms. Figures of two women sat atop a wedding cake surrounded by cards and endearments. Wearing a veil clipped to her hair and holding a bouquet of flowers, one of the women was escorted down a set of stairs to the ceremony while another inmate sang.

Eight officers were disciplined in the incident. Six were suspended, one resigned and another was fired, the newspaper reported.

Court: Forget DNA test; evidence is gone in murder case

DNA testing cannot be done in the contract killing of citrus and cattle baron Charles Von Maxcy because evidence from the sensational 1966 case apparently no longer exists, the Florida Supreme Court ruled today.

The justices unanimously affirmed a trial judge's decision denying DNA testing sought by death row inmate William H. Kelley. He was convicted of killing Von Maxcy in 1984 - 18 years after the 41-year-old victim was stabbed and shot to death at his Sebring home, the Associated Press reports

Girl: Mom forced piercing of my genitalia

A 39-year-old woman is on trial for forcefully having her promiscuous 13-year-old daughter's genitalia pierced to make it uncomfortable for her to have sex, the Associated Press reports. The girl, now 16, told jurors Wednesday how her mother in 2004 asked a tattoo artist friend to shave her head to make her unattractive to boys and later held her down for the piercing.

Man robbed of 62 cents -- or was he?

HOLIDAY -- About 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, an unemployed 47-year-old man was on his front porch with his dog at the Holiday Travel Park when a white Chevrolet pickup truck pulled up.

He told authorities that this happened next:

A masked man walked toward him. As the victim turned to go inside, he felt a metal object against the back of his head. He heard the cocking sound of what he believed to be a .44 Magnum.

"Give me your money or give me your life," the robber said.

So the victim handed over his money, and the robber fled -- with 62 cents.

The story's veracity is uncertain, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. There is no evidence to support it, nor is there evidence to disprove it.

"It should be noted," the deputy's report read, "(the complainant) was intoxicated and told me he had been drinking beer for several hours."

--Thomas Lake, Times staff writer

Stuck in a shaft 10 hours, alleged robber yells for help

A Marion County man police say was trying to rob a CVS last night got stuck in a ventilation shaft for 10 hours and had to yell for help, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The man climbed on the roof of a Silver Springs Shores drug store, tied a rope and lowered himself into the air-conditioning shaft. The rope broke, and he fell about 10 feet. His hands were pinned and his feet went through the bottom of the shaft. Said a Marion County sheriff's captain, "He was begging the manager to help him out."

Haitian girl was a slave in South Florida, feds say

Federal prosecutors in Miami say an orphan smuggled into Miami from Haiti at age 14 lived in a southwest Miami home for almost six years, fearful of being deported, under conditions that amounted to involuntary servitude, the Miami Herald reports. The girl had to work 15-hour days, seven days a week with no schooling and no freedom. A rolled-up mattress on the dining room floor served as her bed. Her shower was a hose in the back yard. When visitors came over, she was told to hide in a closet or the garage.

Radio host finds aunt's grave open, skull missing

A South Florida radio personality found his aunt's grave open and her skull and rib cage missing, the Miami Herald reports. He found her casket flooded with water and scattered feathers. It's not the first time such a thing has happened.

Over the years, families paying their respects in some South Florida cemeteries have periodically found headless remains yanked from cracked-open burial chambers and strewn on the overgrown grass with evidence of ritualistic religious practices scattered around.

Times staff writer

Orlando Weekly employees arrested in prostitution case

Three managers of the Orlando Weekly newspaper were arrested this afternoon by law enforcement officers on charges of aiding and abetting in prostitution, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation arrested the three employees from the newspaper's advertising department at a job fair sponsored by the weekly.

Times staff writer

Cat killed with hammer, complainant says

HUDSON -- Someone has killed a cat with a hammer in Leisure Beach, according to an allegation authorities are investigating.

The cat died Sunday and the report was made Monday, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. A detailed report on the incident was not available today and no arrests have been made.

Thomas Lake, Times staff writer

Despite deputies' warnings, man drives away drunk

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Five Bud Lights later, he left the club. It was after 3 a.m., time to go home, and of course his car was outside, his silver six-speed Pontiac GTO, because these are the suburbs, and people drive to bars in the suburbs, and then they come out, breathing heavy, forehead numb, faced with a crucial decision.

Do I call 411, find a cab company, wait a long time, pay a lot of money, and then worry the next morning about retrieving my car?

Or do I crank the engine and pray?

Before you find out what Jeffery James Hurley did Sunday morning outside the Nocturnal B.Y.O.B. club at U.S. 19 and Trouble Creek Road, you should know he had at least two people telling him not to drive.

And that those two people were sheriff's deputies.

After 115-mph chase, he swigs beer, gives cops the finger

William Joseph Galloway wrecked his pickup after leading St. Johns sheriff's deputies on a 115-mph chase and tossing beer cans out the window. So authorities weren't thrilled with the 26-year-old man's next move: swigging beer and giving them the middle finger. Authorities said he told them "he was going to die fighting and swinging." But a Taser shock ended that threat, the Associated Press reports.

Man finds $100,000 cash hidden in the attic

A Sanford man was looking for a bad wire in his attic after the power went out when he found $100,000 in cash, starting a messy legal fight over who should get the money, the Associated Press reports. The money was hidden in a cavity cut in the insulation in four plastic bags filled with $20 and $100 bills and stuffed into a strongbox. The man, a 26-year-old computer engineer, remembered that someone was killed in the home years earlier, so he called police.

Police: Man kept dead rommmate for a month

A man in Punta Gorda kept the decomposing body of his 86-year-old roommate in their house for a month while he used the dead man's ATM card and cashed his checks, police said.The body was discovered in a bedroom of the small house Thursday after a rent collector stopped by, smelled a foul odor and contacted authorities, the Associated Press reported.

Woman says she was dragged 50 feet by hair

HOLIDAY -- A man was arrested Thursday after his wife told authorities he had dragged her by the hair about 50 feet down a street.

The woman had contusions and bruising on her forehead, right ear and shoulder blade, as well as a sprained pinkie finger, a sheriff's report said.

Michael V. Russo, 37, of 2030 Cemetery Road, Holiday, was arrested, charged with domestic battery and held without bail in the Land O'Lakes jail.

A report said he told a deputy that his wife had fallen on the front porch, and that he told one of their children to give the same story.

--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

Ghost ship's crew missing in high seas mystery

A Miami charter boat, minus its missing four crew members, was towed to a Miami Coast Guard station today, the Miami Herald reports. Two passengers found floating in the Florida Straits near Cuba are being investigated by the FBI, thanks to someone surfing the Internet who tipped off investigators that one of the men might be fugitive from Arkansas wanted for stealing $92,620 in cash from a Wal-Mart.

What’s biting you?

Have you been attacked by something in Florida's wild? If you’ve been bitten by something like a brown recluse spider, a coral snake, an alligator or even a shark, and are willing to tell the tale, please e-mail us at local@sptimes.com and put "dangerous bites" in the subject line.

Officials: Leader used scouts' IDs for fake IRS claims

A former Girl Scout leader in Santa Rosa County used the Social Security numbers and birth dates of members of her troop to file fraudulent claims with the IRS, authorities say. The woman received more than $87,000 from the IRS after filing claims totaling more than $187,000, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports.

Officials said the woman used a permission slip and medical release form for an upcoming field trip to obtain the information. The girls in the troop were between the ages of 9 and 11. The woman also used her own four children's identity in the scheme, authorities said.

The woman pleaded not guilty in federal court, the Pensacola News-Journal reported. She was allowed to leave the courtroom on condition that she give up her volunteer position with a youth soccer league, cancel her Internet access and remove two computers and firearms from her home.

The woman entered phony income statements into computer tax software on her home computer to create phony income tax returns and used the Social Security numbers she obtained to prepare and electronically file federal income tax returns with the IRS, court documents said.

Lakeland man wasn't the MLB pitcher he said he was

For decades, Bill Henry, of Lakeland, told people he was the former major league pitcher from Texas. People believed he played in the majors for 16 years, pitched two games of the 1961 World Series while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds. Then Bill Henry, of Lakeland, died. And it came to light that he wasn't the baseball legend at all. In fact, reports The Ledger, Bill Henry, the pitcher, is still living. In Texas. "Let everybody know that I'm still kicking," the retired ballplayer said. And of the man who stole his identity, Bill Henry, the pitcher, said, "I'm baffled."

Police: When 'hooker' flees, john becomes fake cop

NEW PORT RICHEY -- A woman walks into a hotel and asks to see a room. The clerk shows her one. But instead of checking in, the woman leaves. A little while later, a man walks in and asks where the woman went. He says he is an undercover officer conducting a sting. He says the woman is wanted for theft and prostitution. The clerk asks him for ID. The man says he's undercover, so he doesn't have one. Nor does he have a badge or a gun.

This all happened Monday night at the Best Western at 6826 U.S. 19, according to a New Port Richey police report.

The man writes his cell phone number and the name "Ron" on a piece of paper. He tells the clerk to call him if the woman comes back. Then he leaves.

The clerk's boyfriend stops by. The clerk tells him the story. He calls New Port Richey police to verify the man's story. They send out an officer, who arrives around the same time the man shows back up to check on the woman.

The officer arrests the man on a charge of impersonating an officer. (He also gets charged with DUI.) His name is Ronald J. Auriemma, and he is 38, and he lives at 7333 Bent Oak Drive in Port Richey. He is held Tuesday in lieu of $5,250 bail.

The man denies impersonating an officer. But he tells a story that, if true, explains a whole lot.

He says he picked up a woman he believed to be a prostitute, gave her $60, and drove her to the Best Western to "get laid." He says the woman went inside but never came back.

Thomas Lake, Times staff writer

Stolen parrots turn up in Hudson

About a week ago at a pet store in Pompano Beach, someone broke in and stole a whole bunch of birds. Nearly 60 of them, according to store owner Carlos Liriano: African gray parrots, conure parrots, Amazon parrots, military macaws, that sort of thing. Not to mention a 75-pound juvenile brown tortoise named Tiny.

Liriano filed a theft report, and a lieutenant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission went looking for the purloined wildlife, and on Friday some of it turned up in Hudson, nearly 300 miles away.

According to a sheriff's incident report, Lt. Steve Delacure and a deputy found numerous birds and a tortoise in a house at 7513 Cypress Knee Drive. That was the address connected with a license plate on a white Dodge Ram 1500 that had been spotted at the scene of the theft.

The officers arrested Robert Walter Howard, 31, of the above address, on several charges, including grand theft and dealing in stolen property.

Liriano, the store owner, said he rented a U-Haul to bring the creatures back. (Including Tiny the tortoise.) About two-thirds of the birds are still missing, and Liriano said insurance would not cover them.

"Put it this way," he said. "He left me blank. In ruins. He left me completely destroyed."

--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

Wahneta robber escapes on a bike

An elderly couple in rural Wahneta were sitting on the back porch about 11:25 a.m. having a glass of iced tea they discovered a man in their house stealing cash, jewelry and firearms. The robber escaped on a bike, The Ledger in Lakeland reports. Authorities are looking for an unshaven Hispanic man on a dark-colored bicycle.

Elvis seen partying with aliens in South Fflorida

It was a gathering so strange, it belonged on the pages of the Weekly World News.

Instead, it was the final send-off for the salacious tabloid devoted to Elvis sightings, alien abductions and the continuing exploits of "bat boy," the half-bat, half-child orphan. Editors, reporters and fans gathered at a Lake Worth bar Sunday to pay tribute to the cheeky tabloid, whose last publication was Aug. 27, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

One person came as gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Another topped his alien costume with a sombrero. A third, naturally, dressed as Elvis

Neo-Nazi murder suspect caught with sharpened toothbrush

LAND O’ LAKES -- First he was accused of venturing from his neo-Nazi compound to stab a woman and kill a 17-year-old boy. Then Pasco County authorities said he tried to break out of his jail cell using smuggled saw blades and torn sheets. Now you can add another charge to John Allen Ditullio’s list: possession of contraband in a detention facility. According to an arrest report, a deputy searching Ditullio’s cell Sunday morning found tobacco and a toothbrush that had been shaved to a sharp point. Ditullio, 21, said he knew nothing about the contraband. Apparently jail officials didn’t believe him.
--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

Firefighters battle kitchen blaze at their own station

TAMPA -- Firefighters with Hillsborough