Florida

TOWN & COUNTRY — Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies have ruled the death of a woman found in her home Saturday morning a homicide, said spokesman J.D. Calloway.

Deputies were called to 7304 Sunshine Circle around 11 a.m., Calloway said, where they found the body of 42-year-old Lisa Lynn Martinez.

No details have been released about Martinez’s death at this time.

Check This Just In for more information as it becomes available.

Robbyn Mitchell, Times staff writer

A woman suffered life-threatening injuries this afternoon after a taxi hit her as she rode a bicycle across Gulf Boulevard in Madeira Beach.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash, which sent Sissel Jangaard, 51, of 575 Crystal Drive in Madeira Beach, to Bayfront Medical Center, where she is listed in critical condition. It has not indicated who was at fault.

Deputies say a taxi driven by Darryl Giese, 41, was headed southbound on Gulf Boulevard when the vehicle apparently struck Jangaard, who was crossing the street from the beach, just south of the intersection with 146th Avenue near the entrance to County Park.

(Read the full post about ‘Bicyclist hospitalized after collision with taxi’…)

  THONOTOSASSA –- Joey McCullen and Devin Lively were once so close that they both had “Friends Forever” tattooed on their shoulders

But something soured between the two cousins early Saturday morning. And what started as an argument over money ended with 21-year-old Lively dead outside McCullen’s trailer.
Deputies charged Willard “Joey” McCullen, 22, of 8401 Bowles Road, Lot 20, with his murder.

Around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Lillian Lively said she stood on the steps between her nephew and her son. They had been arguing, she said, over money McCullen had borrowed from her.

McCullen reached over her shoulder with a .25-caliber handgun and fired a bullet into her son’s back.

“He turned around and looked at Joey, and Joey shot him in the chest,” she said.

(Read the full post about ‘Family quarrel turns deadly for “Friends Forever”’…)

TAMPA – Troopers say a 44-year-old man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a car speeding and running a red light early this morning.

James D. Dean was turning left onto the Veteran’s Expressway at Hillsborough Avenue at 1:35 a.m. when a car heading east on Hillsborough ran a red light and hit his 2005 Yamaha, according to FHP.

Dean, who was not wearing a helmet, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Troopers arrested Antoinette Morello, 42, of 6516 Seafairer Dr., Tampa, and charged her with DUI manslaughter. After the crash, she was transported to St.

(Read the full post about ‘Driver charged with DUI manslaughter’…)

TAMPA – A late-night fire caused $100,000 worth of damage at a commercial laundry business.

Tampa Fire Rescue spokesman Bill Wade said firefighters searching for the source of smoke found several large baskets of laundry burning inside the warehouse late last night. The sprinkler system inside the Unifirst Company, a commercial laundry business at 6010 E Adamo Dr., had stopped the blaze from spreading.

After an automatic fire alarm went off around 10:57 p.m. Friday, firefighters were dispatched to the business, which was closed for the night. They spotted the smoke and called for more units.

Fire crews pushed the baskets outside and reported that the fire was under control at 11:49 p.m.

(Read the full post about ‘Fire causes $100,000 in damage’…)

Around August 2007, Barbados Free Press Exposed burst on the scene, with a look-alike version of the Barbados Free Press site. They even copied BFP’s custom logo! This plagiarism appeared to be designed to confuse the public, and to draw traffic from BFP by deception. One of BFPE’s first posts was “The Sad Demise of Barbados Free Press”. Shock! BLP links to those making threats!

In “The Sad Demise of Barbados Free Press”, BFPE comes out spewing words like “Sweet Slaughterhouse September!!!!”.
Let’s get the context straight.

(Read the full post about ‘Yes, there is a link between the BLP and Threats of Violence’…)

TAMPA — A former Hillsborough County mortgage broker pleaded guilty in federal court today to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to a plea agreement, Luis Javier Uribe, 28, of Apollo Beach, worked with an unidentified title agent to falsify applicants’ credit histories and inflate the values of properties to secure loans. In at least one case, prosecutors said, Uribe applied for a loan without the potential home buyer’s permission and forged every signature on closing documents for the sale. Investigators estimated that Uribe’s scheme caused lenders to fund more than 32 fraudulent loans totaling more than $6-million. Prosecutors said Uribe closed loans with Diamond Title, Easy Title and Southern Bay Title. (Read the full post about ‘Ex-mortgage broker pleads guilty to fraud’…)

   The Pinellas Sheriff’s Office recently arrested two men in a bizarre crime, accusing them of stealing more than 2,000 pounds of artificial body parts and other "surgical hardware" from a cemetery and selling them for scrap for $5,416.

   Today there’s an update: Richard Gates, the recycler who initially bought the scrap, has tracked the items down, paid to have them shipped back, and returned them to Memorial Park Cemetery — all at his own expense. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said he was playing the role of good Samaritan.

   The artificial body parts, items such as hip and shoulder replacements, contain metals such as titanium,cobalt and stainless steel.

(Read the full post about ‘Stolen metal body parts recovered’…)

Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart said today he will not seek re-election. Stewart, a veteran Pinellas politico who served on the St. Petersburg City Council before being elected to the commission in 1994, said he anguished over the decision for months. "I will enormously miss the life of an elected official," said Stewart, 70. "I have been blessed and honored." Stewart, the commission’s current chairman, said he plans to spend more time in Colorado, where his three sons and grandchildren live. Expect Pinellas School Board member Nancy Bostock, a Republican, to soon enter the race. Former state Sen. Jim Sebesta, a Republican, and Darden Rice, a Democrat, also have expressed interest in the countywide seat. (Read the full post about ‘Longtime Pinellas Commissioner Bob Stewart won’t run again’…)

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Bill Nesmith will be suspended without pay for two days for violating a county policy which prohibits county employees from possessing firearms on county property, but he will not face criminal charges. Nesmith, 59, has been on indefinite leave since March 3 after an investigation into a domestic assault complaint filed against him by his wife of four months. She accused him of threatening to shoot her and himself during an argument at their Indian Rocks Beach apartment in Pinellas County. When Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies reported to the scene of the argument that first weekend in March, they found a semiautomatic pistol in Nesmith’s county-issued vehicle. (Read the full post about ‘Fire chief suspended 2 days; no criminal charges in domestic dispute’…)