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Around the state
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2003
BRADENTON -- A Brandon man pleaded guilty to covering up the execution-style murder of his former girlfriend and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Brian M. Bathe, 21, admitted in court Tuesday that he covered up 18-year-old Marie Roehrig-Stephey's murder by lying to investigators. Judge Rick DeFuria sentenced him to three years in prison for being an accessory after the fact to the murder.
Roehrig-Stephey, who was once engaged to Bathe, was killed Feb. 6, 2002 because Bathe's friends thought she knew about their plans to run guns to New York, investigators say.
Roehrig-Stephey was dead about two days before Manatee County sheriff's deputies found her body in a pond 2 miles off Interstate 75.
Bathe said he drove Roehrig-Stephey to Edward Sauthoff's Riverview apartment, where Sauthoff and Wesley "Dave" Collins, 25, of Valrico, questioned her, then beat and choked her, sheriff's reports say. Collins and three others then took her to a cow pasture where Collins shot her once in the back of the head, reports say.
Bathe has agreed to testify against Sauthoff and Collins, both facing first-degree murder trials.
Two other men have admitted roles in the murder: Jason Hirshberger, who pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder; and Constantine Quiroz Jr., who pleaded no contest in November to accessory to murder after the fact.
ORLANDO -- A 50-pound dog ran onto a school playground and ripped off a second-grader's left ear as playmates watched in horror.
Daniel Decembre, 8, suffered severe face and head injuries in Tuesday' attack. He was in critical condition on Wednesday.
The dog, a pit bull-Labrador mix, was destroyed Wednesday with the consent of owners Clyde and Gloria Salle, who live next to the school. The dog, usually kept chained in the back yard, bolted from the house through the open front door, Clyde Salle said.
Witnesses said the dog came tearing across the school grounds and attacked Daniel as he was trying to run away. Several teachers beat the dog with umbrellas to free the boy.
"The kids were crying and hysterical," said Marlene Magee, a school staffing coordinator.
PUNTA GORDA -- Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Clement committed 25 election law violations during his 2000 campaign, a state report found.
Clement promised high-ranking jobs in exchange for political support, failed to report more than $5,000 in political contributions and did not properly mark political signs, the Florida Elections Commission found.
The allegations "are blatantly false," Clement declared. "This is all politics." He has said he will appeal.
The investigation began after retired Deputy Ken Dudding said Clement promised to make him head of internal affairs in exchange for Dudding's campaign efforts. He said that once Clement took office in January 2001, he and others were denied promised positions.
It is a third-degree felony to offer jobs as political payback. The commission found there was enough evidence to charge Clement with promising jobs to Dudding and former co-worker Louis Williams.
Dudding said this week he will run against Clement in the 2004 Democratic primary for sheriff.
FORT MYERS -- Florida marine contractors have notified the federal government they intend to sue over manatee protection rules, claiming the policies make it too difficult to get dock permits and will cost the industry $100-million and 1,000 jobs this year.
The Florida Marine Contractors Association filed a notice of intent to sue the Department of Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The notice gives the agencies 60 days to change the manatee rules or face the possibility of litigation.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the government establishes areas of inadequate manatee protection where dock permits can't be issued.
CEDAR KEY -- A man and woman who died in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico were identified Wednesday as Tallahassee residents who were returning from a funeral in Key West.
The bodies of the pilot, Augustus R. "Gus" Winchester, 35, and passenger Pamela Reiber, 43, were recovered by divers Tuesday after the single-engine Piper Arrow went down in bad weather the night before southwest of Cedar Key, Levy County sheriff's Capt. Chuck Bastak said.
Winchester was the brother of Leon County Commissioner Dan Winchester.
HIALEAH GARDENS -- A city councilman charged with trying to bribe his opponent to drop out of the race was re-elected Tuesday.
Miguel Haddad received 53 percent of the vote against Henry Gonzalez. Haddad, 64, was charged last week with remuneration by a candidate for services, a third-degree felony, after police said he offered to give Gonzalez a position on a zoning board, which pays $100 a month, if he would leave the race.
Haddad denied the charge.