Crime & Safety

OMG PD: Fake Cruises, Limo Shootout, Puppeteer Pleads Guilty

We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.

2 Accused of Selling Fraudulent Cruise Packages in Bradenton

Police are looking for two Bradenton men who they say have been peddling fraudulent cruise packages to unsuspecting victims.

Dale Lucas, 25, and Todd Kelley, 22, have been passing themselves off as representatives of "a well known Internet site" and claiming they are authorized to sell cruise packages or travel related services, the Bradenton Police Department said Tuesday.

Lucas and Kelley have been targeting locations along Manatee Avenue and Cortez Road in Bradenton, police spokesperson Capt. Warren T. Merriman said in a media release. The two men come in dressed as collared shirts and khaki pants or shorts, presenting travel packages and laminated marketing materials, Merriman said. They allegedly collect payment for the travel package and then flee the scene.

Find out what's happening in Brandonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Man Allegedly Locked Puppy in Car While at the Movies

Erick McGriff, 22, of Tampa was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty after authorities said he went to see a movie and left his pit bull puppy inside the car. 

TBO.com reported authorities had to smash the windows of the vehicle to rescue the puppy.

Find out what's happening in Brandonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A 27-year-old Sarasota mother is under arrest after deputies say she "constantly exposed" her two boys, ages 7 and 3, to verbal and physical abuse, left them alone in the car several times and used them as a distraction as she returned stolen items at a store in exchange for cash.

Investigators first became concerned about the alleged abuse and neglect while listening to phone calls between Jacqueline Moore and her boyfriend, who is in the Sarasota County Jail.

Charges were already pending against Moore in relation to a prescription fraud case in which deputies say she scammed an adoption agency out of money by claiming she would place her unborn child up for adoption, even though she was not pregnant.

School officials say the older child has been late for school 34 times this year, absent more than 11 days and often goes without his medication, the sheriff's office reports.

4 Injured in Shootout With Limo in St. Pete

Detectives say two limousine passengers wounded early Wednesday morning in one of a series of shooting incidents in St. Petersburg may have been targeted for a possible robbery.

"It appears that some of the limo's passengers may have been intentionally flashing large sums of cash while at the convenience store and this caught the attention of the subjects in the two suspect vehicles," St. Petersburg Police spokesperson Mike Puetz said in a media release.

The limo driver returned fire with his own gun as he sped away from the area, Puetz said.

A nurse's aid at a Lealman assisted living facility was arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office after he allegedly inappropriately touched an elderly patient, according to a press release.

Joshua Baker, 28, of St. Petersburg, was arrested on the charge of lewd and lascivious molestation of an elderly/disabled person, a felony.

According to officials, on Saturday, March 23, Baker was observed by another nurse's aid on top of an elderly female patient as she lied naked on a bed.

Baker, who at the time had his pants down but underwear still on, immediately
got off the female patient and made statements to the effect of "This isn't what it looks like" and "I don't want to go to jail", police say.

Report: Largo Puppeteer Who Planned to Eat Children Pleads Guilty

Ronald William Brown, who authorities said was conspiring to kidnap young children, torture them and eat them, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of possessing and receiving child pornography, according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times

Brown, 57, was arrested in July 2012. He pleads guilty to eight counts of possessing or receiving child pornography, the Times reported. 

According to WTSP, last year Brown allegedly chatted online with another man last year about kidnapping and eating children, describing how they would abduct them and cook their body parts on a stove.

Convenience Store Owner Charged with Selling Drugs From Behind Counter

Clearwater Police have arrested and charged Junn Yan Lai, 55, the owner of the Greenwood Food Mart, for selling drugs from behind the front counter of the store. 

Lai, of 5460 Stag Thicket Ln. in Palm Harbor, was arrested and charged with possession of morphine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of a firearm while committing a felony and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. 

A nursing home marketing director says an eviction notice she received led her to take $10,000 from a dementia patient at the nursing home where she worked.

Sorogini Persaud, 37, of Palm Harbor, is charged with felony exploitation of a disabled adult and felony grand theft in connection with the incident.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by Patch, on Feb. 2, Persaud took the nursing home patient out to lunch and then to a Bank of America, where she knew the victim had an account. She accompanied the victim to the counter, where he asked for the balance on his account; then Persaud told the teller the man needed a cashier's check in the amount of $10,000. The cashier gave the victim the check, then Persaud drove the man to the nursing home and dropped him off. The victim left the cashier's check in her vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Persaud told Pinellas Park Police officers that she deposited the check in her bank account Feb. 4 to fix overdrafts and to pay outstanding bills.

Car Crashes into Town 'N Country Home

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 History Teacher Ousted After Arrest

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 introduction, he was arrested – one of 35 people charged in Operation Green Shepherd II, according to the sheriff’s office.

Kornell, 40, was arrested March 20 and charged with a sexual offense on a victim age 12-15, according to Manatee County jail records.

Bus Driver Charged With Assault for Kicking Special Needs Student

A former school bus driver faces an aggravated child abuse charge for kicking an 8-year-old special needs student down the stairs of the school bus, according to the state Attorney's Office.

Stephanie Wilkerson, 41, who was fired from her job as a Hillsborough County school bus driver after the incident, was shown on surveillance video kicking the girl off the vehicle.

The child suffered a broken ankle in the incident.

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