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Police reports
By Times staff writer Charges follow theft, sale of fertilizerBROOKSVILLE -- A 38-year-old Brooksville man was charged with two counts of grand theft Wednesday after authorities said he illegally sold ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used as an explosive. Manuel Estrada of 2521 Richbarn Road was released from the Hernando County Jail on $20,000 bail shortly after his arrest Wednesday, a jail spokesman said. Law officials said Estrada's trucking company, Manny's Bulk Express, contracted with certain fertilizer companies to haul tons of fertilizer to specific customers but then diverted the loads and pocketed surplus cash during the past 22 months. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, authorities said they are paying close attention to fertilizer manufacturers. A task force of federal and state agents began investigating Estrada to see whether he was a threat to domestic security, law officials said. They said they learned he was selling the fertilizer, which was the key ingredient used in the Oklahoma City bombing. Later, federal agents came to believe he was selling the fertilizer to make money rather than to cause explosions. However, state agents, including investigators with the agricultural department and FDLE, continued investigating the theft on their own. Illegal alcoholic drink leads to sex chargesSPRING HILL -- A 25-year-old Spring Hill man was charged Tuesday with false imprisonment and sexual battery. The Sheriff's Office said Fredrick Lindlau of 4467 Springwood Road gave a 19-year-old woman liquor at a party last October and raped her. The Sheriff's Office said the woman, now 20, attended a party on Exmore Street in Spring Hill on Oct. 26. She told deputies that a man gave her a glass of bourbon and shortly after, she felt very sick. She said Lindlau took her into a room and "hurt her." She went home and told her parents, who took her to Spring Hill Regional Hospital, authorities said. She picked Lindlau's picture out of a photograph packet at the Sheriff's Office, law officers said. Lindlau was held without bail at the Hernando County Jail on Wednesday.
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From today's Hernando Times Editorial Letters |
