Tuesday, April 30, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Tuesday, April 30
A Sarasota office manager is charged with practicing medicine without a license after authorities say she performed a painful procedure on a patient following her cosmetic surgery. Christine Patterson, 44, is the brother of Dr. Alberico Sessa and works as the medical biller and an office manager at his Clark Road practice, Sarasota Surgical Arts, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. A patient came to the office in 2011 to complain of "massive swelling," with two witnesses telling investigators the woman's face was "swollen like a pumpkin." Detectives say Patterson contacted Dr. Sessa, who was out of town, then decided to insert a drain to remove excess fluid, reportedly telling the patient she had seen the procedure done "…
Monday, April 8, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Alexis Ortiz was already in the custody of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office on charges related to a burglary at Ridgewood High School when a deputy discovered an iPhone in Ortiz's shorts. That iPhone, the sheriff's office says, contained a photo of a man perfomring a sex act on a 2-year-old girl. So Ortiz, who lives in Port Richey but worked as a garden tech at The Home Depot in Holiday, now faces a charge of possession of a photograph depicting sexual performance by a child in addition to a charge of burglary and three counts of dealing in stolen property that were already levied against him. A grandmother faces child neglect charges after deputies say she lost track of her 11-year-old grandson at a Bradenton Walmart and left him there. …
Monday, April 1, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A Countryway couple has been taken to the hospital while another family deals with wreckage to their home following a single-car crash Monday, March 25. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred as Angus McArthur, 83, of the Countryway area was driving his 1999 Mercury eastbound on Waters Avenue when he lost control. McArthur’s car “left the roadway, went through a wooden privacy fence and struck a house,” a media release from the sheriff’s office said. Chamberlain High School history teacher Phillip G. Kornell thought he was arranging to meet an underage girl via the Internet, but it turned out to be an undercover detective from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. When Kornell showed up for the in-face …
Monday, March 18, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A 70-year-old Brandon man faces a second-degree murder charge after deputies say he confessed to fatally shooting a man having sexual intercourse with his wife in the couple's home. Ralph Lewis Wald, 70, was arrested after he called 911 and told a dispatcher with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office that he just shot the victim for "fornicating" with his 42-year-old wife. Wald told authorities he had gotten up shortly before midnight Sunday to get a drink in the kitchen, when he saw the two in the living room having sex. Ward said he returned to his bedroom and grabbed his firearm, shooting the victim several times. A 19-year-old has been charged with shooting his father last week in Sarasota, police said Tuesday. Steven R. Phelps Jr…
Monday, March 11, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
An osprey that was found shot in East Lake has had its injured wing amputated. The female osprey was found injured Saturday morning near the Pinellas Trail, just off East Lake Road and across from East Lake United Methodist Church. Ospreys are protected by Florida statute and federal law. A Tarpon Springs man has been accused of striking a doctor at Florida Hospital North Pinellas "three to four times" with his car after hitting the doctor in the face. According to the arrest affidavit, 32-year-old Robert Ratliff began yelling at the doctor while he was looking at medical paperwork. He then hit the doctor with his open right hand, police said. When he left the hospital, the doctor followed. Ratliff then allegedly got into his vehicle and…
Monday, March 4, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A Seffner man is believed to be dead after being swallowed by a sinkhole Thursday night, Feb. 28. Jeffrey Bush, 36, was asleep in bed around 11 p.m. when the ground opened up beneath his home at 240 Faithway Dr., Seffner, and swallowed him, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon. A Temple Terrace man claiming to be a reserve deputy has been arrested by the Temple Terrace Police Department for impersonating an officer. Police became suspicious of Daniel Rangel Jr., 22 of Tampa, after he seemed uncertain of jurisdictional boundary when he spoke with police. Rangel Jr. is a member of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office Volunteer Citizen Patrol Program. St. Petersburg Police have arrested and charged 22-year-old …
Monday, February 25, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Monday, February 25
A New Port Richey area man sent his ex-girlfriend nearly 240 text messages over the course of several hours Tuesday, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. An arrest report says Steven Horlacher sent 239 text messages “harassing and threatening" his ex-girlfriend, who he used to live with, and her current boyfriend. One reads ”Well im going to intentionally hurt you….I hope you *expletive* die tonight on ur birthday..” A Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy chose to resign Monday in lieu of termination after an internal investigation found he had misrepresented the facts about an off-duty encounter with a prostitute and violated other department rules, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Robert F. Johnson, 42, had …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Tuesday, February 19
Two former employees of TradeWinds Resort are accused of embezzling more than $780,000 from the St. Pete Beach hotel, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. Detectives say the resort's former head of the information technology department and its ex-chief financial officer created shell corporations licensed with the state and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the resort through these made-up companies starting in 2007. Harold James, 46, and Sam Baage, 58, used the corporations to bill TradeWinds Resort for services it never received and embezzled a total of $782,018, which they used to lead "very comfortable lifestyles," the sheriff's office said. Sarasota Police arrested a 27-year-old man on charges of armed …
Monday, December 17, 2012
We compile the odd, unusual and ‘oh my gosh’ police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Sgt. Robert Fearon was in Tampa training to prepare for his fourth tour of duty in the Middle East last weekend, when burglars broke into his home stealing electronics, jewlrey and signed sports jerseys, according to Bradenton Patch. How much was enough for the thieves at work at the Sephora cosmetics store in the Westfield Brandon shopping mall? Apparently, only a few steals wouldn't do, as a surveillance video released from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office shows the two women hauling away enough perfume to top about $3,000, according to Brandon Patch. According to the arrest affidavit on Largo Patch, "the defendant was undressing and chasing women through the parking lot, which alerted the attention of several bystanders. A …
