Page 40 - Florida Sentinel 10-7-22

Crime Man Jailed For Stealing From Disaster
Deputy Killed While Serving Arrest Warrant
Relief Vehicles
The Tampa Police Depart- ment arrested a man caught burglarizing vehicles designated for Hurricane Ian repair work.
At approximately 4:30 a.m., on Tuesday, October 4, officers responded to 701 E. Bird Street, a staging area for hurricane relief vehicles and contracted lineman, after security personnel lo- cated and detained an indi- vidual attempting to break into vehicles.
An investigation con- firmed that Bryan Antonio Cirino Ortiz, 35, had broken into a bucket truck and a Ford F-250 Super Duty, stealing
BRYAN ANTONIO CIRINO ORTIZ
power tools that were later re- covered.
Ortiz was arrested with- out incident. He was charged with two counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance.
DEPUTY BLANE LANE
A 21-year-old Polk County deputy died after being fatally injured by gunfire on Tues- day, October 4, 2022, in Win- ter Haven. Deputy Sheriff Blane Lane, had become a deputy in January 2022.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, at 2:07 a. m. on Tuesday, Octo- ber 4, 2022, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a Heartland Crime Stoppers tip that 46-year-old Cheryl Lynn Williams, who had an outstanding felony warrant for failure to appear on a pos- session of methamphetamine charge was at 4345 Foxtown South in Polk City. Williams has a criminal history that in- cludes 11 felonies and 4 mis- demeanors, and she spent 9 years in the Florida State Prison of an 11-year sentence for trafficking in meth.
Sergeant Michael Brooks, and Deputies Johnny Holsonback, III, Adam Pennell, and Blane Lane arrived at the scene, and at 3:08 a.m., they advised that shots were fired.
Deputy Lane, was shot in the left arm, and the round entered his chest. As a result, he died at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.
The first witness at the trailer home told the deputies when they arrived at the front door that Williams was at the back door. The second witness who was at the back door told them, “She’s in here,” and all of the deputies except Deputy Lane went inside. Deputy Lane took up a tactical position outside the trailer near the front side. Deputy Lane’s tactical posi- tion afforded him the view of the door and windows to en- sure that he would see the suspect in the event she tried
CHERYL WILLIAMS
to flee.
The deputies approached a
“gaming” room and initially did not see anyone in the room. Williams then stepped into view armed with a silver handgun, which she immediately pointed at them. Shots were fired and the sus- pect went down.
Deputy Lane then re- ported that he had been shot in his arm. He was trans- ported to Lakeland Regional Hospital.
Williams was also trans- ported to a local hospital to be treated for multiple gunshot wounds. She is in stable con- dition.
Deputies interviewed the second witness after-the-fact, who told them that when Williams realized the deputies were there, she picked up the handgun and walked away from him. He told her, “You don’t want to do that,” and she replied, “Let
Gun in Williams’ Possession
them in.”
The handgun turned out
to be a very realistic-looking BB gun.
According to the early in- vestigation, it appears that both Sergeant Brooks and Deputy Holsonback fired their agency-issued firearms. The round that struck Deputy Lane came from one of their firearms.
Deputy Sheriff Blane Lane lived in Fort Meade. He entered the Polk State College KCTIPS dual law enforce- ment-detention academy in September 2020, graduated, and was hired as a Detention Deputy in May 2021. He be- came a Deputy Sheriff in Jan- uary 2022, and was assigned to Northwest District Patrol.
Cheryl Williams will be charged with felony second- degree murder, among other charges, upon her release from the hospital. This inves- tigation is ongoing.
HCSO Looking For
Fraud Victims Of AC
Company Owner
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is looking for additional victims of a suspect recently arrested for stealing hundreds of thousands of dol- lars from a business in Tampa.
In October 2020, COVE Behavioral Health hired Ap- pliance Tech Solutions to complete a large air condi- tioning project at their facility located at 4422 E. Columbus Drive.
COVE paid ATS $238,920 over a period of time, via wire transfers and checks, to order parts and start the job.
The owner of the com- pany, who COVE dealt with directly, made excuses as to why products were never or- dered or delivered.
HCSO Economic Crimes Detectives investigated and acquired enough evidence to find probable cause. Deputies arrested 30-year-old Gavin Vasquez on October 4, 2022, and charged him with 1st de- gree grand theft over $100K (1st degree felony).
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said, “Here in Hillsborough County, we believe in an hon-
GAVIN VASQUEZ
est day’s work for an honest day’s pay.
“It appears that Mr. Vasquez had plenty of op- portunities in the last two years to be honest and do the job he was hired to do. In- stead, our smart and very ca- pable detectives in the Economic Crimes Section got involved, and put an end to his fraudulent activity.”
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is looking for additional potential victims of Gavin Vasquez.
Anyone with more infor- mation, or who feels they may have been a victim, is asked to call and talk to detectives at (813) 247-8200.
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