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Tampa Bay: BEWARE
According to a story in tonight’s online edition of the St. Petersburg Times, a fifty-eight (58) year-old Pasco County man noticed something odd at a drive-thru ATM machine last Saturday morning. When he tried to insert his ATM card, there seemed to be an odd piece of plastic attached to the ATM machine that was loose.

Wisely, the man removed it from the ATM at the Bank of America branch at 5242 Little Road in New Port RIchey. Because that Bank of America branch was closed, the man took it to another location and showed it to a bank teller. That bank then called the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has determined that what the man found was a “skimming device” — an increasingly popular (among thieves, at least), small machine that scans and stores debit card numbers. The “skimming device” was planted at the ATM by identity thieves, along with a small camera aimed at the ATM’s keypad in the hope of capturing (your) personal identification numbers. Once these thieves obtain your debit card number from the “skimming device,” along with your PIN number from the hidden camera, these crafty, high-tech thieves can access and drain your bank account and/or life savings in a matter of minutes.Kevin Doll, spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, said this is the first report he’s heard of a “skimming device” being used in the county in his 12-year-career.

After reviewing the actual Bank of America ATM video, Pasco County Detectives have determined that someone wearing a hat and driving what appeared to be a Dodge minivan installed the “skimming device” at 8:35 a.m. last Saturday. Working in tandem, a second suspect wearing a baseball cap followed in a four-door BMW.

Less than ten (10) minutes later, the suspicious (and wise) Bank of America customer removed the “skimming device” and more than likely prevented numerous weekend, drive-thru ATM bankers from becoming victimized by this scam

According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the two (2) suspects returned to the ATM machine at 9:45 a.m. and removed the camera, which the customer didn’t notice. The camera, without the “skimming device,” is useless — and vice versa, said Detective Natalie McSwane of the Economic Crimes Unit at the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. McSwane said these “skimming devices” are installed quickly and, unfortunately, are available for purchase online (Please finish this well-intended article before trying to find one online).To protect yourself from thieves, McSwane said to “look for devices on ATMs and other card-swiping machines.”

“If it removes, then it’s probably not supposed to be there,” she said.

She also urged people to always shield their PINs when entering them on keypads — at ATMs, gas stations, grocery stores, etc., even if no one seems to be watching.

Anyone who knows anything about this case or who might have witnessed suspicious activity at this New Port Richey Bank of America branch last Saturday morning is asked to call Detective McSwane at 1-800-854-2862.

Please be safe out there and follow these tips to avoid falling prey to this and other types of Identity Theft scams.
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A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a defense motion on Monday by a “reality television star” accused of burglarizing the home of actor Orlando Bloom to have her statements to police barred from her upcoming trial.

Alexis Neiers, 18, testified that she did not understand her Miranda rights to remain silent and have an attorney present for her interviews.Neiers’ attorneys argued that she repeatedly asked for an attorney while being questioned by police at her home and at a police station after her arrest last year.

However, Judge Leslie A. Swain disagreed, saying a videotape of Neiers’ interview showed that she had ample opportunity to invoke her constitutional “right to an attorney.” The judge said the statements will be admissible during her upcoming Jury Trial, which is scheduled to begin on May 10th.

Neiers, the star of the E! Entertainment television show Pretty Wild, could face as many as six (6) years in prison if convicted of a sole count of Felony Residential Burglary.

Judge Swain said Neiers turned down plea offers that would have sent her to county jail for a year and would have required her to be on Felony Probation for several years.

“I’ve never been in that situation before,” Neiers testified about her arrest and interview by police. “For me, I didn’t really understand.”A transcript of her hour-long interview shows she did not ask for her attorney until late in the session. The transcript shows the detective then stopped questioning her.

Reader’s Note: If guilty of burglarizing a celebrity’s home, immediately ask for your attorney (do not wait until the end of the interview, after you’ve confessed to the crime, to invoke your right to counsel!)

Neiers told the judge she answered a detective’s questions “because I didn’t know any better.”

Co-Defendant Nicholas Prugo, the alleged ringleader of the group, is also seeking to have his lengthy statement to a detective ruled inadmissible.

In court filings, Prugo’s attorneys argued that his cooperation was so substantial — and detrimental to his safety — that seven (7) Felony Residential Burglary charges against him should be dropped.

The Court filings contend that prosecutors have a duty to offer Prugo a “plea deal” that would allow him to avoid jail time. They also contend Prugo only cooperated with police at the advice of his former attorney because he expected a favorable plea deal.

“A criminal case is not a Las Vegas casino and a person does not cooperate with law enforcement gambling on a result,” Prugo’s current attorney Daniel Horowitz wrote in the motion.

“I do not disagree that cooperating was the right thing to do,” Prugo himself wrote in a declaration accompanying the motion. “However, I would not have provided information and cooperation that increased the charges against me and increased my chances of being identified as a ‘snitch’ or ‘rat’ without the expectation of a fair plea agreement.”

Prugo’s Motion states the arrest of Neiers was a direct result of Prugo’s statements to police.

In a transcript of her interview with police, Neiers claimed she was drunk (Note to self: “voluntary intoxication is not a valid legal defense in the State of Florida where this author practices) when she went to the actor’s home with three (3) other people. She told a detective she didn’t take anything from the house.

Four (4) other suspects are charged in burglaries at the homes of Hollywood stars Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Rachel Bilson. Continue reading

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Paul C. Austin, 35, of Chicago, was extradited on Sunday and delivered to the Pinellas County Jail (from Illinois) to face a Felony charge accusing him of hiding a camera in a bathroom to take pictures of a young girl while she showered.Austin’s arrest warrant was for a Felony charge of Video Voyeurism, a Third Degree Felony pursuant to Florida Statute §810.145. If convicted of a Third Degree Felony in the State of Florida, Austin could receive a prison sentence of up to five (5) years.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the underage girl was eleven (11) years-old when Austin hid a digital camera in boxes inside a garbage can and set it to automatically take nude photos of the young girl as she showered.According to a story in yesterday’s St. Pete Times, Austin’s Video Voyeurism occurred between October 21st and November 11th in unincorporated Pinellas County, near the City of St. Petersburg.

Authorities with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office have reported that a family member of the young girl found the photographs by accident while she was looking for other photos in Austin’s camera. After making this shocking discovery, the relative confronted Austin in November before he fled to Chicago, where he lives.

The family member then approached the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on November 25th and gave their Crimes Against Children detectives a memory card from Austin’s camera. Later, during a monitored phone call (or a “controlled phone call,” as we call it in the business), Austin admitted to taking the photos, according to the warrant for Austin’s arrest.

Detectives assigned to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s Crimes Against Children Unit obtained the Arrest Warrant, which was served in Chicago on April 3rd with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.

The young girl has not been named because of her age and the nature of the offense. In my experience handling Child Sex Cases, it is standard protocal for the identity of the child victim to remain confidential.

According to the St. Pete Times story, Austin was interviewed by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois and gave consent (our fancy, lawyer word for “permission”) to have his computer and camera searched. During the search, nude photos of the young girl were found, in addition to nude photos of other “apparent minors,” according to the warrant for Austin’s arrest.(Author’s Note: I think its fair to say that we will be reading about Austin’s “additional” charges in the not-so-distant future).

As this article is being written, Austin is being held in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $50,000 Bail Continue reading

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According to a story in yesterday’s St. Pete Times, “[a] year-long drug investigation led to the seizure of more than $1.5 million in cash and Monday’s arrest of a 28-year-old man on Federal Drug Charges.”Details from a Federal arrest warrant showed how Cocaine was shipped from Mexico and distributed through St. Petersburg’s neighborhoods by top members of “8-Hype,” a local criminal street gang based in the Harbordale section of St. Petersburg.

The suspect named in the Federal arrest warrant, Justin Levine Richardson, was arrested on a Federal charge of Conspiring to Distribute Cocaine. What makes this story interesting is that Narcotics detectives said they found $1,008,720 inside Richardson’s mom’s car.According to the St. Pete Times, “Richardson has been well known to narcotics detectives for years. In 2004, the St. Petersburg man was arrested in Texas for shipping drugs through the mail. He was sentenced to five (5) years in a Federal prison and was still on Felony Probation for that crime when he was arrested Monday.”

Richardson’s arrest was part of a joint operation between the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to authorities, they tracked down witnesses who said Richardson supplied them with Cocaine; tracked him as he allegedly transported a large black duffel bag containing $277,585 to a drug “stash house”; and discovered a courier who crossed the U.S.-Mexican border 176 times since 2008 (you’d think, if anything, the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and/or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would find 176 border crossings, between the United States and Mexico, in less than two (2) years at least suspicious?).

Yesterday, Richardson, of 500 Trinity Lane in St. Pete, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals. He is currently being held, without bond, in the Pinellas County Jail on a “courtesy hold” for the U.S. Marshals.
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According to a recent story in the St. Petersburg TImes, a 15-year-old boy shoved a teacher into a doorjamb, a boy punched a 12-year-old girl because she said she didn’t like him, and a 14-year-old girl slapped and cursed at a younger classmate.

All three (3) of these incidents took place at John Hopkins Middle School, located at 701 16th Street South in St. Petersburg. Each of these three (3) incidents resulted in an arrest of the Juvenile offender.

In each case, a criminal charge was referred to the State Attorney’s Office by the St. Petersburg Police Department. And, in each of the three (3) cases, the charge was dropped by the State Attorney’s Office.These cases represent just a small fraction of the eighty-four (84) arrests made on campus from September, 2009 through February, 2010 as officers and school officials try to restore order on the often-chaotic middle school campus.

According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, these cases are indicative of a current trend: Many cases where the St. Petersburg Police Department make an arrest on a Juvenile offender are ultimately dropped (before formal charges are even filed) by the Pinellas County State Attorney’s Office.

The reasons for this current trend vary: uncooperative victims, weak cases or the school already punished the student. Even when a student is prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office, Juvenile court judges have limited powers to remove a child from a particular school to prevent future trouble.

According to the St. Pete TImes, “[t]he juvenile system, it seems, can’t fix what ails John Hopkins” Middle School.

“Does every bump in the hallway, every word that starts flying, does it belong down here in the Juvenile justice system?” said Joe Walker, Juvenile Division Director for the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office, “or is this something that can be handled by the family, by the school system? That’s the question.”The State Attorney’s Office won’t comment on specific criminal cases connected to disciplinary problems at John Hopkins Middle School. Furthermore, Juvenile court records are not public record.

“Every case, every one of them is different,” Walker said, “and they all have unique facts about them, and it’s our job to evaluate them to see if they can get to the level of successful prosecution.”

Walker said that school administrators have far more leeway to discipline and rein in students than the criminal justice system. “There’s a lot of remedies available to a principal,” he said.

Prosecutors, he said, have a higher burden of proof in Juvenile Court than arresting officers.

The purpose of the Juvenile justice system, in Florida at least, is to treat and rehabilitate first and punish them later — much later — if ever. And, as far as this author can tell, the Juvenile justice system is not keeping up with or sufficiently scaring the high-risk Juvenile offender.

Until the courts decide to “punish” Juvenile offenders, rather than providing them with a “slap on the wrist” and/or sending them to a Juvenile program (also known as “summer camp”), the Juvenile crime rate in the city of St. Petersburg and greater Pinellas County will continue to rise.

Until then, lock your car and make sure that you have a good alarm system in your home….
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Sara Lou Kenny, 20, of New Port Richey, needed some clean urine to pass a drug test so, authorities say, she tried to smuggle the urine from her friend’s 4-year-old son past a probation officer and pass it off as her own.It didn’t work!!!

Kenney was arrested Friday at a substance abuse program office on Little Road in New Port Richey, according to the St. Pete Times.

Her friend and roommate, 26-year-old Amber Tobeck, was also arrested at the same office for giving her son’s urine to Kenny, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.Both women are on Felony Probation – Kenny for Drug Offenses and Tobeck for Fraud and Theft convictions – according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Kenny’s two-year drug court probation sentence began Feb. 1st. An arrest report said Kenny had methadone that was not prescribed to her.

Kenny and Tobeck are being held without Bond at the Pasco County jail on charges of Violating their Probations. Kenny is unemployed. Tobeck told authorities she is a waitress at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in New Port Richey. Gotta love their chicken-n-dumplings!
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The culmination of a 10-month drug investigation called “Operation Pill Poppers” was impressive: 74 suspects were identified, 150 counts of Doctor Shopping, otherwise known as “Withholding Information from a Practitioner,” were filed and 55,006 pills, with a street value of approximately $750,000, were seized. For the complete story, check out the article in today’s St. Petersburg Times.

However, by the end of Monday’s six-hour roundup, staged at a closed Egg Platter restaurant on U.S. Highway 19 in Pinellas Park, dozens of suspects remained at large. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) and the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) arrested eleven (11) suspects that day, plus nine (9) from the week before.

“Operation Pill Poppers,” announced to the public as it was happening, was designed partly to raise awareness of the growing prescription drug problem in the Tampa Bay area (which this author has written extensively about over the last year). But it also highlights how tricky it is to curb such crimes when the addiction is so powerful, the drugs aren’t illegal and the law hasn’t caught up with the problem.Law enforcement agencies throughout Florida have been gradually shifting their focus from the “more traditional” drugs like marijuana and cocaine to a completely different animal that bears little resemblance to yesterday’s Drug Offenses. During “Operation Pill Poppers” 10-month Pinellas County investigation, narcotics detectives relied heavily on intelligence gathered from pharmacists and doctors.

Putting aside the thousands of lives that have been shattered by this recent wave of prescription drug abuse, the most sobering statistic lies in the number of recent deaths in Pinellas County.

Just last month (January 2010), three (3) women and one (1) man who had cases in Pinellas County’s Drug Court died from prescription drug overdoses, said Shannon Loveday, who manages the Drug Court.A 2008 St. Petersburg Times investigation found that prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs kill about 500 people a year in the Tampa Bay area, triple the number killed by illegal drugs such as Cocaine and Heroin.

Moreover, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) narcotics division has doubled from four (4) detectives to eight (8), with two (2) added supervisors. The hope, according to authorities, is to prevent Pinellas County from turning into Broward County, which is known as a magnet for out-of-state prescription drug buyers.

Because a statewide prescription computer system does not yet exist in Florida, as it does in several other states, Doctor Shopping and prescription fraud is rampant. Doctors still use handwritten paper prescriptions, which are easy to forge, and law enforcement agencies must primarily rely on pharmacists to report suspicious customers.Last year, Hillsborough County sheriff’s detectives wrapped up a 10-month investigation called “Operation Bad Medicine” with more than 100 arrests. A doctor, two (2) nurses and three (3) medical assistants were among them.

After years of debate, the Legislature approved a bill last year creating a database to track prescription drug sales in an effort to curb Doctor Shopping and illegal Drug Trafficking. But the details of the monitoring program still need to be worked out before it is implemented.

Right now, Florida is the largest of sixteen (16) states without such a program.

And, in the eyes of this author, law enforcement will not make major strides in curbing our County’s prescription drug abuse problem until such an electronic database is created to notify doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officers that someone is obtaining and/or filling multiple prescriptions, for the same or a similar drug, in the same month. Until then, we will see more crime, more overdoses and unfortunately – more needless deaths.
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Sometimes, good police work requires that you get down and dirty.

Earlier this week, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Rene Valencia, a 24-year-old entrepreneur (i.e., “drug dealer”) charged with Attempting to Sell Heroin and Cocaine near Weston Park allegedly swallowed his drugs rather than face the consequences of getting caught red-handed. However, the police in this small northeastern town (known for being the home of the world’s busiest Dunkin’ Donuts) one-up’d the hungry suspect when they obtained a Search Warrant for his bowel movements!! How’s that taste, Mr. Valencia?”He did not think that the detectives would go through the difficulty of getting a search warrant to retrieve the drugs from his bowel movement,” Lt. Rick Fuller said on Feb. 3. “He was wrong.”

Fuller said that detectives recovered seven (7) bags of heroin, eleven (11) bags of cocaine, and two (2) bags of crack cocaine from Rene Valencia, following a surveillance operation on Washington Street in Weymouth.Valencia was arraigned in Quincy District Court on Feb. 3rd for Possession of Heroin with Intent to Sell, Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Sell, Conspiracy to Violate Massachusett’s drug laws, and committing drug violations near a park.

According to Lt. Fuller, Valencia arrived near Weston Park to sell the drugs at 11:50 a.m., when undercover detectives approached him. “Upon approaching his vehicle, the suspected drug dealer began swallowing several small bags of drugs,” Fuller said.

Detectives arrested Valencia and took him to South Shore Hospital where the drug contents were recovered.

Valencia later told the detectives that he has swallowed drugs on many occasions when pulled over by the police. According to police, this case shows the extent that drug dealers will go to not get caught. It also shows the extent that creative police officers will go to in order to make a case against them.
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A 20-year-old St. Petersburg man was sentenced to three-and-a-half (3 1/2) years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge stemming from a fatal wreck that killed two (2) people – his 23-year-old cousin, who was a passenger in his car, and a 59-year-old woman, who was a passenger in the other car. For the complete story, check out the TBO.com story.Joshua Malone’s prison term will be followed by twenty-four (24) months of community control (aka: “house arrest”).

Last December, Joshua Malone pleaded guilty to Driving a Motor Vehicle Without a License – Involving Death. Earlier this week, he was sentenced at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center.

An unrelated case involving the Sale and Possession of Cocaine was also resolved and included in Malone’s 42-month prison sentence.

Malone, who was only eighteen (18) years-old at the time of the Feb. 9, 2008 wreck, was sentenced as a “Youthful Offender,” which limited/reduced his maximum exposure to six (6) years in prison.According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), Malone was driving a Ford Focus east on the Treasure Island Causeway when a Lexus turned in front of him to go south on Paradise Boulevard. Malone’s Ford Focus T-boned the Lexus.

Because Malone was under 21-years of age at the time of his Sentencing Hearing, along with the fact that he had never been previously sentenced as a “Youthful Offender,” it was within the Court’s discretion to “depart” from the sentencing guidelines. Continue reading

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Christy Lynn Martin, a former Azalea Middle School teacher, was sentenced to five (5) years probation Tuesday for “sexting” an eighth grade student, according to the St. Pete Times.Martin, 33, pleaded guilty to Transmitting Pornographic Images through an Electronic Device and Transmitting Material Harmful to a Minor. In exchange for her guilty plea, she was sentenced to probation, will have to register as a Sex Offender, wear an electronic monitor and undergo therapy.The charges stem from Martin’s relationship with an eighth-grade boy. According to authorities, they called each other “husband” and “wife,” kissed each other and sent each other cell phone photos of their private parts.

They did not have sex and did not see each other outside of school, according to information contained in a search warrant related to the case.

“I realize how wrong I was,” Martin said in court Tuesday, wearing a pale pink sweater, hair pulled into a ponytail. “I accept full responsibility for my behavior…. I am extremely ashamed and remorseful for my actions.”

Martin was arrested in March and had been out of jail on bond.

According to the search warrant, the boy, then 14, said he took two photos of himself on his silver Samsung Messenger cell phone, and the teacher admitted taking three photos of herself on her red Sprint cell phone.

The boy sent his photos to Martin, and Martin acknowledged receiving them. She also admitted sending the photos of herself, but officials deleted the name of the recipient. Photos of a woman’s genitals did appear on the boy’s cell phone.

Martin did not admit to calling the boy her husband but did say she threatened him with “divorce,” because he had “too many little girlfriends.”

The document also says the boy touched Martin on her buttocks outside her clothing, but that she did not touch him in that way.

“You done messed up my son’s life,” the victim’s mother told Martin in court Tuesday. “He thinks it’s OK to go with the wrong kind of women…. You destroyed my son, you destroyed my family. I don’t feel sorry for you one bit. If it was up to me, you’d get life. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

At Azalea Middle, Martin taught five computer classes and one “life choices” course, which involved teaching students about positive relationships, self-esteem building and conflict resolution. The boy was not a student of her’s this year. Martin has been placed on administrative leave.As a condition of her probation, Martin can no longer work anywhere with children, including daycare centers, malls, theme parks and schools. Martin said she was working toward a master’s degree.

She asked Judge Cynthia Newton if she could have permission to transport her two children to school. As a single mother, Martin said she had no one else to take them.

“I’m going to allow you to take the kids to school and pick them up from school,” Newton said.

But she could do nothing else on school property.
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