Page 34 - Florida Sentinel 4-8-22

Crime
Two Pedestrians Struck By Lightning
69-Year-Old Teacher Jailed
On Child Porn Charges
Two people were struck by lightning Saturday afternoon while at Raymond James Sta- dium, 3802 W. Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd. They were leav- ing the Yankees Game when the incident happened.
According to the Tampa Police Department, one of the victims was a man in his 60s and the other was a woman in her 20s. Fire Rescue was called and both were transported to the hospital.
The last condition report police released was that both were in stable condition.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 69-year-old teacher at a Val- rico private school after get- ting a tip. Detectives received two cyber tips from the National Center for Miss- ing & Exploited Children in reference to child pornogra- phy being uploaded to an email account.
The investigation re- vealed the account belonged to the suspect, Stephen Robb, a fifth-grade teacher at Grace Community Church and School. On March 29, 2022, deputies conducted a search warrant on the sus- pect’s account which re- vealed additional images of child pornography. The sus- pect also had images of a current student, fully clothed, in the suspect’s class.
Hillsborough County
Sheriff Chad Chronister
said, “It’s sickening to know this man who was entrusted to educate and care for our young children, was exploit- ing children online at the same time.
RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM - 3802 W. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
STEPHEN ROBB
“His disgusting behavior will not be tolerated in Hills- borough County. I commend our detectives who work tire- lessly to protect and defend the innocent children in our community.”
An arrest warrant was ob- tained for 6 counts of posses- sion of child pornography. With assistance from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Of- fice, Robb was located and arrested.
This investigation is ac- tive and open. Anyone with additional information on Robb is asked to call HCSO at (813) 247-8200.
Man Pleads Guilty To Murdering Missing Pregnant Teenager
In June, the St. Peters- burg Police Department in- dicted for first-degree murder in a 10-year-old cold case. He pleaded guilty to second-de- gree murder and will be sen- tenced on April 28th. However, the family of the missing 17-year-old pregnant teenager still do not know where or how he disposed of her body.
According to police, Ja- cobee Flowers, who was dating Morgan Martin in 2012, was a person of interest from the moment the teenager disappeared.
The last time her family saw her was July 25, 2012. She told her family she was going to meet Flowers. She was four months pregnant at the time and had said Flow- ers was the father of the baby girl she was carrying. Her mother reported her missing the next day.
When contacted by police, Flowers denied any rela- tionship with the teenager. He also denied he was the fa- ther of the baby. However, he remained the only person of interest in the case.
Detectives continued their investigation and searches, but the case grew cold.
JACOBEE FLOWERS AND MORGAN MARTIN
In March 2015, the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department created a Cold Case Unit and the case of the missing teenager was once again being actively investigated. Cold Case detectives re-inter- viewed witnesses and spoke to new witnesses. They used all of the new technology at their disposal as well as work- ing with experts. They also traveled following leads in the case.
Fl0wers was incarcer- ated at the Avon Park facility on an unrelated charge when the Grand Jury returned an indictment for first-degree murder in June 2016. He would be returned to Pinellas
County upon the completion of his sentence.
According to the indict- ment, Flowers had pleaded with Martin not to have the child. Flowers, who was 24 at the time Martin went missing, was worried he would face criminal charges because Martin was a minor, the indictment said. He also worried the pregnancy would ruin another romantic rela- tionship.
During the course of the investigation, several other agencies participated in the investigation. Police also used surveillance video and cell phone data as evidence in the case.
PAGE 22-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2022