Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

A now-former employee of the city of Gainesville is facing felony fraud charges after an investigation uncovered instances of her allegedly spending city funds on, among other things, buttock augmentation surgery.Initially described as a competent employee who was always eager to help, Natwaina Clark was fired on March 21 and arrested seven days later for allegedly spending around $93,000 of city money for the purchase of personal items.According to investigators, the 33-year-old Clark spent $61,000 from her own city-issued credit card, $31,000 from her supervisor's card, and almost $900...

Staring life in federal prison in the face, a Plant City man's tearful remorse for his crimes led the presiding judge to sentence him to seventeen years behind bars instead.Telling a story of an early life marred by grinding poverty in Mexico, Saul Velazquez-Bazan's attorney described his upbringing as one of ten children in a family that was forced to dig through the filth in trash receptacles behind grocery stores in order to stave off starvation. Luxuries his jurors took for granted were unknown in his life, his counsel told the court, pointing out that his client slept on a dirt floor...

Six Hillsborough county residents are facing fraud charges and a seventh individual is still being sought for the same for allegedly participating in a scheme to illegally harvest credit card numbers using scanning machines placed on gas pumps.Investigators with the Florida Attorney General's Office say that the group installed skimming devices without the station owners' consent at over forty gas stations in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The devices captured at least forty individual credit card numbers. Though no numbers were released by the investigators, each one could potentially...

Pinellas County officials say an argument over illicit drugs precipitated a murder in a motel in Largo, and have charged a transient man in connection with the killing.Authorities say Angel Enrigue Martinez became enmeshed in a disagreement with Ricky Garland in the hotel room he had been calling home. Although the exact nature of their relationship remains a matter of speculation, PCSO deputies say that they failed to come to an agreement late in the evening of May 25th, and, according to investigators, Martinez ended the dispute by firing upon Garland in the parking lot in front of his...

A St. Petersburg man was arrested without incident last week after a warrant was issued for him in the matter of the killing of another man in Jordan Park earlier this month.Police say they arrested Denzel Rashad Tarver four days after the warrant was issued against him. Authorities allege that Tarver shot Timothy Karl Davis, Jr. on May 15 near a housing complex at 11th Avenue South and 23rd Street.Although St. Petersburg police arrived at the scene around ninety seconds after the altercation, they say that Tarver had already departed by then. They began first aid upon Davis as they awaited...

A New Port Richey woman was mostly tight lipped after being arrested for an allegedly near-fatal domestic assault police say she committed last week - though they said that she did open her mouth long enough to spit at one of their number.Deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office were called to a hotel on Green Key Road just west of US 19 late last Wednesday to investigate a disturbance reported in one of its rooms. They say that they encountered a man in the lobby who had been stabbed in the chest. Officers applied pressure to the wound until an ambulance arrived to stabilize the...

A former United States Air Force sergeant's death sentence for a pair of 2007 murders was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court last week thanks, in large part, to the work of Florida Board Certified Criminal Trial Attorney Bjorn Brunvand.Ralph Daniel "Ron" Wright, Jr., was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in 2004 when he struck up a romantic relationship with Paula O'Connor of St. Petersburg. O'Connor and Wright had a child together the next year, but the child's paternity was unclear at the time due to relationships she had with other men at the time. In addition to the relationship...

A former Pinellas County sheriff's deputy went on trial last week on allegations that he stole prescription medication turned into the department for destruction and pawned his department-issued duty firearm.Steven Jared Smith is being charged with possession of hydrocodone, grand theft, and grand theft of law-enforcement equipment. The 32-year-old was arrested in mid-October immediately after his firing from the sheriff's department and released the next day after posting a $17,000 bond.According to attorneys from the state, Smith appropriated medicine brought to the department by the...

Three inmates of the Pinellas County Jail landed in the hospital after overdosing on drugs allegedly brought into the facility by one of their number.Robert Gilner was booked into jail early last week for driving under the influence and driving on a suspended or revoked license. Deputies say he acquired a white, powdery substance while in custody and shared portions of it with Jason Michael Kokotek and Jason Kyle Sandy.Kokotec, a 30-year-old from St. Petersburg, who was booked into jail on one count of felon in possession of a firearm and eight counts of drug possession, and Sandy, a...

An alleged suicidal comment led to the arrest of a Tampa man who authorities believe murdered his girlfriend.Last Saturday Hector Favio "Pops" Acevedo allegedly called his mother Maria Soto, telling her that he wished to end his own life. Police say she picked him up and brought the 24-year-old to her home, subsequently asking an off-duty sheriff's deputy to her residence for help with the situation.According to the police report, the off-duty deputy contacted deputies who were on the clock while Acevedo was sleeping. Acting under Florida's Baker Act, which allows for the involuntary...