Page 17 - Florida Sentinel 8-8-17

Crime3 Teens Die After Stolen Vehicle Crashes, Catches Afire
Tampa Athlete Gets More Than 6 Years In Tax Fraud Case
Three Pinellas County teenagers died and two others were injured this past weekend. The teenagers were riding in a stolen vehicle that burst into flames after being involved in an accident.
The four passengers in the Ford Explorer were Keondrae Brown, 14, Keontae Brown, 16, Jimmie Goshey, 14, and Dejarae Thomas, 16. Keon- drae Brown was the only sur- vivor and was taken to All Children’s Hospital.
Police arrested Kamal Campbell, 18, and Deyon Kaigler, 16, who were riding in the Chrysler Sebring. They were both charged with one count of grand theft auto and one count of resisting arrest without vio- lence.
According to police, at ap- proximately 1 a.m., Sunday, a 2015 black Ford Explorer was observed by deputies at 580 and Belcher Road. Deputies at- tempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled. Deputies did not chase it.
The black Ford Explorer and the blue 2008 Chrysler, Sebring had both been reported stolen last Friday from a Clearwater car lot.
Deputies spotted both vehi- cles around 4:30 a.m., Sunday,
KAMAL CAMPBELL
This memorial was posted on the In- ternet listing the boys from left to right: Dejarae Thomas, Keontae Brown, and Jimmie Goshey. All three teenagers died in an accident this past weekend.
A 28-year-old Tampa woman was sentenced to 6 years and 2-1/2 months in prison. She was convicted dur- ing a jury trial in Tallahassee on May 3rd.
Ms. Teona N. Rodgers
was convicted of theft of gov- ernment funds, possession of 15 or more unauthorized ac- cess devices, use of unautho- rized access devices, aggravated identity theft, and false claims.
Ms. Rodgers was also or- dered to pay $151,577 in resti- tution.
Officials said that while on a track and field scholarship at Florida State University, Ms. Rodgers participated in a scheme to file fraudulent in- come tax returns during the 2011 and 2012 tax years by using other people’s personal information. The scheme was discovered in November 2013, when two notebooks and 12 debit cards in other people’s names were discovered in the Tallahassee apartment Ms. Rodgers had recently va- cated.
The notebooks contained handwritten names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, tax refund amounts, account numbers, and other personal data of more than 150 individ-
TEONA RODGERS
uals.
They also included nota-
tions such as “rejected” and “filed,” and detailed instruc- tions on how to file a return re- porting $47,196 of interest income. This amount was used on multiple tax returns in this scheme (including Ms. Rodgers’s own 2011 and 2012 returns).
Investigators determined that the returns had been filed from IP addresses linked to Ms. Rodgers and that the false returns had funded the debit cards.
She used these debit cards to make purchases. In total, the information contained in the notebooks was used to file 64 fraudulent tax returns, seeking $465,948 in refunds, officials said.
Police have arrested two men in connection with the death of a 20-year-old Tampa man. Both are facing murder charges after an apparent armed robbery turned into a murder. The incident took place at a North Tampa apartment complex.
According to the Tampa Po- lice Department, officers re- sponded to a shooting that took place at the Tzadik Oaks Apart- ment Complex, 1250 E. 113th Av- enue, around 11:40 p.m., on July 26th.
When police arrived at the scene, they found two men had suffered gunshot wounds. Both men were transported to Florida Hospital. One of the men, who police are not identi- fying because he is considered a witness, received a gunshot wound to the leg.
The other victim, 20-year- old Antonio Roman, was transported as a trauma alert. Roman died after arriving at the hospital.
As the investigation devel- oped, detectives learned that Roman and a witness were at the apartment. The witness had
ANTONIO ROMAN
ALEXEIS PEREZ
XABIEL VILLALBA
at East Lake Road, north
of Tampa Road. Both ve-
hicle sped away and en- tered the East Lake Woodlands residential area. The deputies secured the perimeter, and called for air service, but was unable to locate the vehicles.
The driver of the Ford Ex- plorer reportedly struck a vehi- cle driven by 29-year-old Ricky Melendez, who was at the in- tersection of Tampa road and U. S. Highway 19.
The truck went airborne and struck several parked vehicles in a car lot on the corner. It con- tinued to roll, flip, and strike other objects while still moving. It finally came to a rest on Tampa Road. It then burst into flames.
Police said the Sebring con- tinued on U. S. Highway 19 and was found abandoned near Prince Phillip Street just west of Keene Road. A short time later, Kaigler and Campbell were located and arrested.
A deputy traveling west- bound on Tampa Road ob- served both vehicles traveling west. The two vehicles were en- gaged in a game of “cat and mouse,” accelerating and then decelerating, police said.
The deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop and driver of the Ford Explorer at Tampa Road and Lake St. George. But the driver accelerated to more than 100 miles per hour. The deputy made a u-turn after noticing the Sebring had slowed down behind him.
Two Charged In Armed Robbery Turned Murder
UNCLE SANDY
To accomplish great things, 20, 31, 40, 51 we must not only act, 4, 8, 16, 36 but also dream; not only plan, 6, 17, 44, 49 but also believe. 9, 45, 55, 58.
previously been contacted by another witness to purchase marijuana. The witness and two other men, later identified as 20-year-old Alexeis Perez, and 22-year-old Xabiel Vil- lalba, arrived at the apartment.
One of the witnesses told police that Perez allegedly started asking questions about how much marijuana was in the apartment. As the witness was answering, Perez reportedly produced a gun and pointed it at his chest. The witness told police he was then knocked to the ground.
Within seconds, the witness said he heard gunshots and saw Perez pointing the gun at
Roman and shooting him sev- eral times. The witness said he was able to escape from the apartment, but was shot once in the leg. He told police he didn’t know who shot him.
On July 27th, police arrested Perez and charged him with first-degree murder and rob- bery with a deadly weapon.
On July 31st, police located Xabiel Villalba, 22, and took him into custody. Villalba was charged with third-degree mur- der and robbery with a deadly weapon.
Both men were transported to the Hillsborough County Jail, where they are being held with- out bond.
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