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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 14, 2002
Sex charges dropped; worker returns to school
LARGO -- A Largo Middle School employee arrested in November on kidnapping and sexual battery charges has returned to work after the charges were dropped.
Bruce Allen Camfield, 45, was charged with raping and beating a woman he knows. But the woman didn't want to go forward with the prosecution and the charges were dropped Dec. 5, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.
Camfield, who was in charge of maintenance at the school, returned to work Jan. 14, said school district spokesman Ron Stone.
CLEARWATER -- Prosecutors have decided not to proceed with charges against a caregiver who was arrested on suspicion she stole an elderly man's checkbook and wrote more than $10,000 in checks for herself.
The reason: The man fell very ill and was not able to act as a witness.
Clearwater police arrested Helena C. Jones, 19, in January on charges of scheming to defraud, forgery and uttering forged instruments. Jones was accused of stealing the checkbook of a man's at an assisted living facility while she worked there.
Prosecutors could have moved forward with the case; but the victim, who is in his 70s, grew very ill. The charges were dropped March 1, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.
Bartlett said Jones claimed the victim voluntarily gave her the checkbook to help her out financially. She used some of the $10,000 for day care for her child, police said.
Without the man's testimony, there was no one who could directly dispute Jones' claim, Bartlett said.
LARGO -- Police have identified a man critically hurt in a pedestrian accident Monday afternoon as Clearwater resident Luke C. Gowing.
Gowing, 19, was crossing Clearwater-Largo Road just north of West Bay Boulevard on Monday when he stepped into the path of a silver Toyota. The car struck Gowing and threw him into the windshield, police said.
Gowing was flown to Bayfront Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition Wednesday.
The driver of the Toyota, Michael Wion, 24, of Palm Harbor, was not at fault in the crash but was arrested for driving with a suspended license. He later was released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting $250 bail.
LARGO -- Prosecutors have dropped an attempted murder charge against a taxi driver because they cannot find the man he was accused of trying to run over with his cab.
Robert Souza, 62, was arrested in January on suspicion he tried to run over 37-year-old Robert Klisus with his cab during a dispute at Klisus' apartment. Souza, who drives a van cab for Vets Cab Co., drove away after Klisus threw a crowbar into his windshield, Largo police said.
Officers found Souza minutes later, eating a chicken sandwich in a nearby McDonald's. The crowbar still was in his windshield.
Prosecutors dropped the charge against Souza on March 1 because they could not find Klisus, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.
Investigators continue to search for him, and the charge could be refiled if he is found, Bartlett said.
LARGO -- A criminal charge has been dropped against a desk clerk arrested in November on suspicion she helped a man rob the motel where she worked.
Wendy E. Smith, 32, was charged with grand theft in connection with the robbery at the Suburban Lodge, 6500 Ulmerton Road. Police said Smith told them she was working at the motel when a man robbed the business with a knife.
But after watching a surveillance video showing the robbery, police thought Smith acted nonchalant. When they talked to her, she admitted knowing that a man who had stayed at the motel was going to rob it. She identified him as Johnnie Lee Blanks, police said.
But the charge against Smith was dropped Feb. 4 after a manager with the Suburban Lodge told prosecutors the company didn't want Smith prosecuted, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.
A warrant is out for Blanks, who remains at large, court records state.