Wednesday, April 24, 2013
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has an online tool residents can use to keep up with the area’s most-wanted fugitives.
The Internet is fast becoming the new “post office” for law enforcement agencies that want to make sure photos of their most wanted fugitives make it into circulation. Instead of just hanging posters on post office walls, law enforcement agencies these days are creating webpages to get the word out to area residents. Some are even using social media outlets like Facebook as tools in the fight against crime. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has its own online “post office” wall. Dubbed “Find-a-Fugitive,” the webpage features the photos and some background information on the county’s Top 10 most wanted. It also shares photos of deadbeat parents and “dangerous drivers.” Cristal Bermudez Nunez, sheriff's office spokeswoman, said the …
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The 21-year-old woman killed in a Lutz crash last week was 'apparently on the phone,' Florida Highway Patrol officials say.
While the investigation into the fatal April 18 crash on State Road 54 in Lutz continues, the Florida Highway Patrol has released more details about the accident that killed Lacey Alane Harrelson, 21, of Odessa. Harrelson was standing in the center lane of westbound State Road 54 around 3:30 a.m. when two vehicles struck her, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a media release issued after the crash. Those vehicles were driven by William M. Daiek, 57, of Land O’ Lakes and William Marshall Nance, 26, of Port Richey. Lutz Patch reader Patrick pointed out last week that Harrelson was wearing a dark uniform after getting off work. Sgt. Steve Gaskins of the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that Harrelson had gotten off work around “10 or 11 p.m…
Monday, April 22, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
A 75-year-old man who shot another driver during an altercation did not make the first move, authorities say. Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies continue to investigate the Land O' Lakes shooting, which occurred Saturday in the Collier Commons plaza parking lot, 2121 Collier Parkway. John Michael Omara, of Land O’ Lakes, was approached by a 51-year-old man and struck through an open driver’s side window, deputies say. Omara then shot the man in the upper part of his shoulder. The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A New Port Richey woman stands accused of leaving a 2 1/2-year-old girl unattended in a locked car in a Walmart parking lot with the windows up and no …
The guns were collected by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office during Operation Gun Swap in February.
Wondering what happened to all those guns the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office bought from residents back in February? Here’s the answer: “The nation's largest single day gun swap came to a fiery finish at a steel mill, where the rifles, shotguns, and handguns were incinerated in a 3,200-degree furnace,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release. “The melted metal that was once weapons will become rebar and coat hangers.” February’s Operation Gun Swap drew residents from all over the county who wanted to trade in their unwanted firearms for vouchers worth $75 each. All told, the sheriff’s office paid out more than $200,000 for the guns. Funding came from the Shimberg Foundation and the sheriff’s office forfeiture fund, said Capt. …
Friday, April 19, 2013
Andrew Fields, 61, was indicted this week on sex trafficking and drug charges.
It appears prosecutors have enough of a criminal case against a 61-year-old Lutz man to move forward with charges. Andrew Fields was indicted Thursday, April 18 on drug conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. Arrested last month, Fields is accused of pimping out female prostitutes using the website Backpage.com and selling prescription pills including Oxycodone, according to ABC Action News. Authorities say Fields, of 1920 E. 151st Ave., since 2008 “coerced and controlled” women — some of them underage — by supplying them with prescription pills and making them pay off the debt through prostitution, WTSP.com reported. ABC Action News said authorities on one occasion were posing as johns when Fields drove a 17-year-old prostitute to the …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Two cars struck a 21-year-old woman on State Road 54 in the early morning hours of April 18.
A 21-year-old Odessa woman is dead following an early morning accident on State Road 54, just east of Foggy Ridge Parkway in the Lutz portion of Pasco County. Lacey Alane Harrelson was standing in the center lane of westbound State Road 54 around 3:30 a.m. when two vehicles struck her, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a media release. Those vehicles were driven by William M. Daiek, 57, of Land O’ Lakes and William Marshall Nance, 26, of Port Richey. The drivers were not injured in the crash. Their passengers, Donna Daiek, 57, of Land O’ Lakes and Eric Marine, 27, of Lutz were also uninjured. Harrelson was wearing dark clothing and was not positioned in a crosswalk, the release said. She died at the scene of the accident.
Monday, April 15, 2013
We compile the odd, unusual "oh my gosh" police items from throughout the Tampa Bay region.
Half of the 400 shiny blue and silver pinwheels placed on State Road 56 in Pasco County on Easter Sunday by the GFWC Pasco Junior Women's Club in honor of Child Abuse Prevention month have gone missing. New pinwheels have replaced the missing ones thanks to landowner Sierra Properties, but club members are still baffled by the caper. A 55-year-old Pennsylvania man showed off his privates at Wiregrass Mall — and was subsequently shown the inside of a jail cell. Stephen J. Racik, of Jenkintown, Pa., drove by a parking lot carnival at Wiregrass late Friday, April 5, according to a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office complaint affidavit. Racik stopped his vehicle near minors and then “arched his back, exposed his penis … and began to shake it …
Friday, April 12, 2013
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is hosting a special event this weekend aimed at preventing trailer theft.
Lutz residents who own utility trailers might want to take a short drive over to the Brandon area this weekend to take advantage of a program offered by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The law enforcement agency offers a Trailer Identification Program that enables deputies to more easily identify stolen trailers in the event of theft. Through the program any resident of unincorporated Hillsborough County can have a free permanent identifier placed on their trailer courtesy of the sheriff’s office. A picture of the trailer is also taken for future identification if it becomes necessary. If a trailer with an identifier is stolen, that marker enables the sheriff’s office to more easily identify connect the property to the owner. The…
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Find out what crimes have been reported to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Crime Report is a regular listing of calls for service in the Lutz area that have been reported to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Here are the calls for service between March 28 and April 9: March 28 Traffic accident, Lutz Lake Fern Road West and Merry Lane March 29 Simple battery, 1500 block of Clement Road March 30 Theft from a vehicle, 15400 block of Livingston Avenue March 31 Grand theft, 1500 block of Blind Pond Avenue Traffic accident, Livingston Avenue and Curry Road Traffic accident, Livingston Avenue and Spring Green Drive April 1 Fraud, 19200 block of Blount Road Theft of motor vehicle parts, 15400 block of Livingston Avenue April 2 Aggravated battery, 19700 block of Amanda Park Drive April 3 Criminal mischief (…
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The parents of Cole and Chase Hakken returned from Cuba in the early morning hours of April 10. Upon arrival, they were booked into jail on a host of charges related to last week’s kidnapping of their two young sons.
Joshua and Sharyn Hakken’s international flight with their kidnapped young children came to an end in the early morning hours Wednesday, April 10, right back in Hillsborough County where it began. A week ago at this time a manhunt for the Hakkens began after Joshua, 35, was accused of breaking into his mother-in-law’s Carrollwood area home, tying her up and taking his two young children by force. His flight with the children, Chase, 2, and Cole, 4, would take him into Pinellas County’s Madeira Beach where he had a sailboat waiting. From Madeira beach, the Hakken family sailed to Cuba. The government there cooperated with the U.S. State Department and swiftly remanded the elder Hakkens and their two young children into American custody. A …
Mark Newman
8:31 am on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Yes, in this liberal and attorney based litigious society we must assign blame. As long as attorneys make up the majority of legislators on the local, state and federal levels and virtually all the judges, this won't change. Belize, here I come. more ›