Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

A Tampa woman is facing charges of fraud over allegations by investigators that she defrauded several elderly individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says Azalea Lashawn Brown fraudulently obtained the personal information and credit card account numbers of at least eight elderly Floridians between the ages of 65 and 92. Per investigators, Brown obtained the victims' personal information and used it to open credit card accounts in their name, allowing her to buy merchandise and gift cards in various locations throughout...

Tampa police say a University Square man met his end at the hands of a woman with a machete last week, but they are unsure of a motive for the killing.The body of Eddie Quezada was discovered in his home in the course of a welfare check by police on September 2 lying in a pool of blood and covered with bloody slashes. A subsequent survey of the premises revealed broken furniture and glass bottles, and blood covering the walls. They say the murder weapon was also found within - a 26" machete.The investigation quickly turned up a suspect in Sarah Kynay Martinez, a neighbor of the decedent. Per...

A fatal car accident in February yielded vehicular homicide charges for a Thonotosassa man last week after a tip to police led to his arrest.The Florida Highway Patrol says Leroy Roscoe Middelton III was driving a borrowed Nissan Sentra northbound on U.S. 301 south of Harney Road just before noon on February 25 when he struck the rear of a Ford F-150 driven by Manuel Patino-Villa. Per witnesses on the scene, Middelton's vehicle was traveling well above the posted speed limits when it struck Patino-Villa's truck.Investigators say the force of the impact sent the truck over the concrete median...

Pasco County authorities say a drug deal gone bad led to the fatal shooting of another man, the critical injury of a woman, and wounds to a Bayonet Point man.Per Pasco County deputies, Ariel Felder met Anthony Douglas Blount in the parking lot of an apartment complex on the outskirts of Beach Woods Village on the evening of August 15 to conduct a sale of illegal drugs. As her Nissan Altima eased up next to Blount's Dodge Durango, police say two men, one of them named Jamarques Codling, first entered then exited the Durango and ran toward the Altima.Upon seeing the two men rushing toward her...