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Police reports
By Times staff reports Condition of suspect in burglary still criticalLARGO -- A suspected auto burglar involved in a high-speed pursuit with deputies earlier this month remains in critical condition at a Tampa hospital, while his alleged partner has been released from the hospital and jailed. Pinellas sheriff's deputies were working undercover Feb. 1 when they saw two men break into a car in a hotel parking lot near the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. The men took off in a green Pontiac Grand Am and headed over the Howard Frankland Bridge at speeds of more than 100 mph. A deputy in a marked car pursued. The men then crashed the car into a light pole at Kennedy Boulevard and Memorial Highway in Tampa. The car rolled, and burglary suspect David Leon Coleman, 20, of Oldsmar and Michael Brinkley, 20, of Largo were ejected. Both were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in critical condition. Coleman remained in critical condition at the hospital Wednesday. Brinkley was discharged from the hospital a few days after the crash, then was arrested on an auto burglary charge. Man accused of stealing from Social SecurityCLEARWATER -- A St. Petersburg man has been arrested on charges that he has been stealing from the Social Security Administration for almost four years by collecting almost $23,000 in disability payments while working a series of jobs. Jaime Wendell Hijar, 60, of 661 Segovia Court NE was charged Monday with grand theft. He was released from the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bail. Hijar is accused of reconfiguring his son's employee identification number to look like a Social Security number. He used that number to receive employment while using his own real Social Security number to receive disability insurance benefits, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents. Hijar did not report his earnings so he would not adversely affect his disability benefits, arrest affidavits state. Since 1997, Hijar worked at six businesses, five of them auto dealerships, in Clearwater and St. Petersburg, never holding a job for long. He kept one of his jobs for only about three weeks, affidavits state.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
