Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

St. Petersburg officials say a well-tenured employee of the county's jobs agency stole thousands of dollars in gift cards from the agency for her own personal use.Danielle Robertson stands accused by Pinellas County prosecutors of stealing $6,700 from gift cards from CareerSource Pinellas. Per investigators, Robertson used the cards, which come in $50 denominations, at several stores and gas stations around town.Police calculate that Robertson used $2,945 of gas cards and $3,742 of gift cards between last May and mid-February. According to investigators, two recipients of $50 cards from the...

Within moments of leaving a Hillsborough County courtroom on a related charge of evidence tampering, a Tampa man was cuffed and hustled back to the county jail to face second-degree murder charges.Tyler Chase Bardin is accused by Hillsborough County authorities of involvement in the killing of Brian Vessel late last year. Investigators point to him as the man who killed Vessel outside the apartment in which Vessel lived with Bardin's mother and half-brother.Though authorities have not revealed their rationale for waiting until last week to make the arrest, they did not wait long beyond the...

The first of four men charged in the murder of a wheelchair-bound octogenarian was sentenced to life in prison late last week, with the jury deliberating slightly more than an hour on the case.Allegedly acting upon information he received from his half-sister through an intermediary, Gaetano Keiran Spera set in motion a plan to recruit three confederates to carry out a home-invasion heist of a dwelling in a mobile home park near U.S. 19 North and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.Per investigators, Bianca J. Spera informed an unnamed individual over a monitored prison telephone of a safe containing what...

Tampa authorities say the man allegedly responsible for a fatal car accident eluded their grasp for almost three months before they were finally caught up with him.Per Tampa police, Jeff Desange and Jorey G. Christophe were engaged in illegal street racing in the traffic traveling along 40th Street. Allegedly weaving in and out of traffic, the pair's competition came to a sudden and fatal ending between 21st Avenue and Lake Avenue when Desange attempted to maneuver his Ford Mustang between two other vehicles.Police say Desange lost control of the Mustang and struck a 2001 Saturn, but they...

A man characterized by Pasco County authorities as a prolific offender was arrested last week after allegedly kidnapping and robbing a man at gunpoint. A man who allegedly escaped from the bathroom window of his own home told deputies a harrowing tale that started in the early morning hours of March 18 when James Edward Boyle allegedly arrived at his home heavily armed. According to the unnamed victim, Boyle, who was armed with a sawed-off shotgun and a pistol, struck him in the face with the latter upon answering his door. He said Boyle then shot him in the shoulder and threatened to kill...

A pair of the nine now-former Florida Gators football players accused of credit card fraud came to an agreement with prosecutors on a plea deal that will keep them out of prison.Jordan Smith and Kadeem Telfort pled no contest to one count each of scheming to defraud, a third-degree felony, on March 16. Spared from time behind bars, the duo were both sentenced instead to two years of probation and court costs of just over $500.According to investigators, Smith was the leader of the alleged fraud operation, initially facing 9 separate felony charges. Investigators accused him of charging...