Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

Though the BUI charges against him are no longer pending, a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy may still find himself jobless due to an incident in Tampa Bay.On July 1 a Sheriff's Office marine patrol deputy spotted the pontoon boat piloted by Alexander Paul Craver near Apollo Beach and initiated a stop. The arrest report says that the deputy engaged the lights on his boat to let Craver know to pull over, but he allegedly did not stop at first. Per the deputy, Craver and a female passenger traded places while underway, and she ultimately slowed the boat for a stop.According to the...

A missing woman's remains found in a New Port Richey man's apartment has resulted in murder charges against him.The family of Christine Nelson reported her to the authorities as missing on August 5, but her vehicle was soon found in front of the apartment of Roy Toro. Only yards away from her own dwelling, Toro's apartment immediately became an area of intense scrutiny by police at that point.According to police, a perusal of the yard turned up blood on a curtain covering the apartment's back window. Coupled with a cell phone search that placed Nelson's phone in the immediate vicinity,...

A St. Petersburg man is facing felony drug charges after deputies say he sold them a substance purported to be cocaine, but wasn't.Pinellas County deputies say Tomas L. Phillips offered to sell an undercover officer what he claimed was 19 grams of cocaine in January. The officer allegedly tendered Phillips $600 for the deal, obtaining a white, powdery substance in return.Investigators say the undercover officer returned the substance to the evidence team, who subsequently tested it to confirm it as being as advertised by Phillips. However, per the lab, the substance Phillips allegedly sold...

A Tampa man with a long history of mortgage fraud is again returning to long-term state custody after entering a plea of guilty to wire fraud.Investigators say Victor Thomas Clavizzao accepted over $16,000 from a church intending to use the funds to build a new worship building. However, rather than directing the money to a construction contractor, authorities say he spent the money for his own benefit.Clavizzao was on supervised release when he accepted the money from the Plant City church, with prior convictions for fraudulently obtaining over $6 million in mortgage loans. He was sentenced...

A Tampa man who allegedly gunned down another individual in the street last week was apprehended after a cooperative effort between the Tampa Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.According to investigators, Sergio Rashad Green and Glennis Leon Mays became embroiled in an argument last Wednesday at dusk. Though authorities did not specify the nature of the argument the duo were arguing about, what is absolutely clear is that one party did not survive the argument.Per investigators, Mays produced a firearm and shot Green. The 27-year-old Green was attended to by emergency personnel,...