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Police reports
By Times staff reports Bank robbers flee; dye pack stains their lootHOLIDAY -- A man with a note walked into a SouthTrust Bank branch, demanded cash and ran into a waiting getaway car Wednesday afternoon, Pasco County sheriff's deputies reported. According to deputies, two white men came to the bank at 3535 U.S. 19 in Holiday around 2:50 p.m. One went in the bank, the other stayed in the car. The man who went into the bank handed a teller a note saying he was armed. But the robber never pulled out a weapon. The man took money and left, getting into a blue Chevrolet that drove off down Moog Road. The man who went into the bank is described as 20-30 years old, about 5 feet 10 to 5 feet 11, with a thin build, fair complexion and dark hair. He wore a gauze bandage over his nose. The driver of the car is described as being tall with a thin build, dark hair and eyeglasses. Deputies found the getaway car, a blue 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity, abandoned at Trouble Creek and U.S. 19. The license plate had been removed, but inside deputies found some money stained with dye. Bank employees put a dye pack in the bag of stolen money that exploded, tainting the money with a colored dye. Deputies said the robber who went into the bank likely has reddish-orange dye all over him. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Sgt. Charles Calhoun or Detective Jeff Bousquet at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office at 1-800-854-2862. Children win $1.9-million in mother's 1998 deathA Pinellas County jury ruled in favor of a former Pasco County woman's family, awarding her children $1.9-million for her death in a 1998 car crash. The jury of five women and one man deliberated about five hours Friday following a two-week trial before imposing a $3.5-million verdict against Waste Management Inc. That figure was reduced when the jury ruled the woman was 45 percent at fault, according to the family's attorney, Shirin Vesely. In the Dec. 22, 1998, crash that killed Consuelo "Connie" Bates, a 48-year-old mother of five, a Waste Management garbage truck was driving too fast through thick fog, Vesely said. 21-year-old accused of stealing woman's purseA 21-year old man was arrested Tuesday afternoon after witnesses identified him as the man they believe snatched an 86-year-old woman's purse on May 11, knocking her to the ground and injuring her, Pasco County sheriff's deputies said. Anthony Upton, 11437 Rampart Lane, was arrested at 12104 Watterson Ave. in Hudson at 2 p.m. Tuesday. According to his arrest report, the 86-year-old woman said a man came up to her, shoved her with both hands and stole her purse. The woman fell and hit her head on the curb, and had to be flown by medical helicopter for injuries to her head, knees and arms. Witnesses were able to identify Upton from a series of photographs detectives showed them. When interviewed by detectives, Upton admitted taking the woman's purse, the arrest report said. According to the report, Upton said the purse was on a car, and he didn't push the woman. Upton was taken to the Land O'Lakes jail facing a charge of strong-armed robbery and was being held on $10,000 bail Wednesday evening. Also on Tuesday, a woman already in jail on other charges who lives at the same Watterson Avenue address that Upton was arrested at was charged with four crimes. The reports did not say whether her and Upton's arrests were related. Monica Duff, 22, was facing four more charges Wednesday evening, including charges of taking a woman's purse and using credit cards that weren't hers, Pasco County Sheriff's Office reports said. Duff was being held in jail on charges of retail theft and using forged bills when detectives contacted her about the four new charges. According to reports, witnesses identified Duff as the woman who stole an 83-year-old woman's purse at Frayne Fasion, 12154 U.S. 19 in Bayonet Point on April 16. Detectives also accused Duff of using a credit card that wasn't hers twice, charging $987 worth of items at Target and Kmart on May 12. On April 17, detectives said Duff used someone else's checks to buy $58.45 worth of groceries from a Publix store. According to the reports, Duff admitted stealing the purse and buying the items. Duff was being held on $80,250 bail at the Land O'Lakes jail.
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From today's Pasco Times Editorial Letters |
