Page 36 - Florida Sentinel 8-28-15 Edition

Crime
Suspects Sought In Robbery Of Gas Station
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reports that on Tuesday at 4:13 a. m., a man and woman entered the Shell Gas Station, 10030 East Adamo Drive, with the man armed with a knife. He report- edly demanded the clerk hand over the money. He was last seen fleeing in a burgundy, 4- door vehicle.
Detectives said the couple was inside the store with a woman for 15 minutes before committing the robbery.
The man is described as a Black male, 45 to 55 years old, 6 feet tall, and last seen wear- ing a black do-rag, gray tee shirt, black basketball shorts and white sandals.
The woman is described as a Black female, 45 to 55 years old, 5’3” and was last seen
This is a surveillance photo of the man and woman sus- pected of robbing a Shell Sta- tion Tuesday.
wearing a dark blue tee shirt and blue shorts.
East Tampa Restaurant Robbed
On Wednesday, August 12th, Tampa Police reported that an East Tampa restaurant was robbed.
According to reports, Ladies of the Sea, 2705 East Dr. Mar- tin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, was open for business when at 7:30 p. m., a man entered the restaurant and asked about getting some oxtails.
When the employee told the man the price, the man al- legedly told her he’d take that and pulled a gun from his waistband at the same time, pointing it at the employee.
The employee fled to the rear of the restaurant as the suspect jumped over the counter.
The owner of the restaurant came from the rear of the busi- ness and confronted the man, who fled out the door and ran south on the east side of the business. The owner said when she confronted the man outside, he attempted to shoot her, but the gun wouldn’t fire.
No one was injured in the in- cident, and the suspect was de- scribed as a Black male in his early 20s, 5’8” tall and weigh- ing 150 pounds.
Sheriff’s Office To Handle Misdemeanor Probation
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Beginning on October 1st, individuals sentenced to misde- meanor probation will report to the Hillsborough County Sher- iff’s Office. The Hillsborough County Commissioners unani- mously approved a contract with the agency last week.
Major Mike Perotti said the department is on a fast track in preparation for the change. He said approximately 30 employees will be trans- ferred from other departments, including the Salvation Army, and new hires to handle the new responsibilities. The Salva- tion Army had previously pro- vided misdemeanor probation services.
Major Perotti said their plans include purchasing soft- ware that would allow tracking of the probationers online. The department expects to super- vise between 600 and 700 peo- ple on probation as well as some individuals in a Diversion Program.
He said the department has a lot of work to do to prepare by October 1st. They are getting space ready at the old work re- lease center on Orient Road. They plan to offer programs such as drug counseling, anger management, an education component for GEDs, and ca- reer development.
Major Perotti said there has not been a review date set. “We’re doing our best to bring forth a great product.”
Initially, the primary admin- istrative office will be in the George Edgecomb Courthouse and space has been allotted in the Plant City Courthouse as well.
240 Drug Offenders Get Early Release By End Of Year
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Scores of individuals serving time in federal prison on drug charges will be released by the end of the year. The early re- lease is part of an initiative in- troduced by the U. S. Department of Justice’s “Smart On Crime” program.
The initiative is expected to save taxpayers millions of dol- lars. It also includes a retroac- tive change in sentencing guidelines for drug convictions and an increase in clemency reviews. Referred to as Drugs Minus 2, the program allows most drug offenders to receive lower prison sentences.
Officials said approximately 240 individuals sentenced in the U. S. Middle District of Florida meet the criteria for early release. The Middle Dis- trict of Florida includes the area from Fort Myers to the Georgia border.
The plan is to release those who have been in prison the longest who meet a certain cri- teria, will be released first.
The first 120 inmates, who are primarily from the Tampa Bay Area, will be released on November 1st. Joseph Collins, Chief U. S. Probation Officer for the Middle District of Florida, said they are working with the Bureau of Prisons to handle the release.
“We are going to connect them with re-entry programs and they will be sent to a halfway house for 90 days prior to their release. The tran- sition back into the commu- nity will begin there. It is certainly a challenge to find placements for so many at one time.”
Collins said first releases will include the 240 individu- als, but after that he expects a trickle as the group qualifying for early release reduces. Some of the criteria includes past criminal history and behavior while the inmates were in prison.
An estimated 695 years of prison time will be shaved off the sentences of the inmates, at a saving of approximately $21 million, officials said.
Informant Sentenced To Prison
A confidential informant re- ceived a 4-year prison sen- tence Tuesday after it was reported he set up fake drug deals and took a cut of the profits.
Anthony Walker, 45, set up drug deals between under- cover detectives and drug dealers were Sheriff’s funds were used to buy drugs. Au- thorities discovered Walker fabricated some of those deals, and several times gave phony illegal substances to people to sell to a detective, pocketing the profits.
Walker was an informant for the Pinellas County Sher- iff’s Office between October 2013 and December 2013, and identified 27 people selling drugs in the St. Petersburg area. According to authorities, charges in 16 pending cases where Walker was involved would have to be dropped be- cause his credibility was ru- ined.
On Tuesday, Walker en- tered a guilty plea on three counts of drug trafficking and
ANTHONY WALKER
one count of selling counterfeit drugs.
During Walker’s time as an informant, he was paid $7,260 by the Sheriff’s Office. Investi- gators started to catch on after Walker set up a morphine pill deal between a woman and a detective. The detective later discovered the substance was actually a non-narcotic muscle relaxant, and pursued an ar- rest against the woman for selling fake drugs. She told de- tectives Walker gave her the fake drugs.
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Woman Robbed At Gunpoint When Car Blocked Her Path
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reports that an 18-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint in her car after being blocked by another car as she drove through a condominium parking lot last week.
Deputies said the woman was driving through the Palmer Pointe Condomini- ums, 7417 Palmera Point Cir- cle, at 12:30 a.m. on August 18th when her path was blocked by a late model BMW
convertible.
The victim told deputies a
man got out of the passenger side with a gun and ap- proached her. He reportedly demanded money and fled after the victim complied with his demand.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 5’6” tall with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, black sweat shirt and blue jeans. No description of the driver was available.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 23-A