Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

HCSO deputies arrested a Valrico man last week on suspicion of initiating a fatal car accident while intoxicated last November.Andrew John Wallace Jr. was allegedly piloting his 2003 Nissan 350Z on Brandon Parkway just past midnight in late November when police say he lost control at a curve in the road at Pauls Drive. According to the police report generated at the time, Wallace's vehicle careened into a concrete median and subsequently struck a tree on the passenger's side.Riding with Wallace that night was Ivan Ordonez, who was seated in the passenger's seat. Police say Wallace likely did...

Pasco County deputies say a man who claims to have difficulty handling rejection reacted negatively to unrequited love last week, leading to the stabbing death of his roommate.Warren Joseph Birkbeck was arrested last Wednesday after authorities say he stabbed roommate Denise Cook several times early that morning. The pair were living as roommates with a third unrelated individual at the home in Holiday. The third roommate is not alleged to have been involved in the situation.Authorities say the trouble began around three o'clock in the morning when Birkbeck heard Cook speaking with a male...

Already serving a sentence for allegedly engaging in a similar scheme, a Tampa man received almost a decade more to serve in federal prison last week for a new conviction on charges of investment fraud.Anthony J. Klatch Jr. stood before U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore last Monday to apologize for orchestrating a scheme prosecutors say was intended to bilk unsuspecting investors. They say it was successful too, netting Klatch over half a million dollars before his arrest.According to federal prosecutors Klatch was on supervised release from a 2011 fraud conviction when he started a...

A Palm Harbor oncologist was sentenced to almost six years in federal prison after being convicted of fraudulent charges to Medicare for unapproved overseas cancer medications.Dr. Diana Anda Norbergs will remain free while her case is appealed. According to federal prosecutors, Norbergs ordered cancer drugs from the United Kingdom and Canada that were cheaper than the FDA-approved American brands, then charged Medicare for the amount she would have paid for those drugs had she purchased the approved American versions.Though the drugs she purchased did not bear the FDA stamp of approval,...

Authorities say a drug deal gone bad led to a fatal shooting at an apartment complex in the North Tampa neighborhood last week.Tampa police arrested Alexeis Perez whom they say killed Antonio Roman around midday last Wednesday. According to police, Perez traveled to Roman's apartment just before noon that day to buy two ounces of cannabis. Accompanied by two other men, Perez allegedly asked another individual present how much cannabis was in the apartment, and that individual allegedly told him that there was about half of a pound of the plant in the residence. Witness accounts differ at...

A Tampa man with a significant history in the Florida prison system was arrested last week, accused of a shooting death at a Busch Gardens hotel.Tampa police arrested Christopher Lee Carithers in front of an East Tampa residence on Thursday after tips from the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force named him the prime suspect in the slaying of Yasmine L. Tyson earlier in the week.According to police, the 37-year-old Carithers fired the fatal shots at Tyson, whom officers found wounded after being dispatched to a local motel Monday evening. She was unconscious when they found her alone in a...

Evidently developing a rage that turned murderous, a Seminole woman was arrested late last week after authorities say she plunged a knife into her husband's chest, killing him.Fifty-one-year-old Mary Georgia Pender-Michielson of unincorporated Seminole dialed 9-1-1 early Monday morning to alert authorities that her husband Bruce Michielson had sustained the wound while in their home. The 41-year-old man was taken by ambulance to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, succumbing to his injuries shortly after arrival.Mary was also taken for medical attention for a less serious complaint. While at the...

The former chief financial officer of a private agency dedicated to helping the mentally disabled will be spending two years in federal prison for allegedly illegally diverting Social Security payments from individuals under their care.Frank Pannullo was also sentenced to three years of supervised released and will also be jointly responsible with others convicted in the alleged scheme for reimbursing over $600,000 to those from whom the government says the funds were diverted. According to federal prosecutors, Pannullo conceived the scheme when the former head of Hillsborough Association...

The Tampa Police Department arrested a man last week they say is responsible for the death of a motorcyclist last November.Authorities accuse Nelson Froilan Massanet-Beltran of being inebriated when he was driving down Sheldon Road on a November evening last year. The 59-year-old was allegedly attempting a left turn onto Redwood Boulevard when the police say he failed to yield the right of way to Kenneth Hall, who was driving his Harley Davidson the opposite direction.The arrest report says Hall's motorcycle slammed into the passenger-side door of Massanet-Beltran's Mercury Grand Marquis,...

Little is known about the circumstances that led to the alleged attack, but Tampa police say that an armed altercation between a man and his girlfriend left her dead and him the perpetrator of her murder.Officers of the TPD were called to an East Tampa convenience store in the first hours of June 18. Upon their arrival they say they discovered the mortally-wounded Metosha D. Godwin. Though they administered aid, their efforts were ultimately in vain, as she expired at the scene. However, TPD officers say they identified their suspect almost immediately, and tracked down Sol William "Freddie"...