Police reports

Woman charged with stealing from lost wallet

ZEPHYRHILLS -- A shopper's lost wallet was returned Friday evening at the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 7631 Gall Blvd. But the $500 inside was not, a Pasco County sheriff's report said.

On Sunday authorities arrested Erica Leigh Bonilla, 20, of 38836 Margs Court, the woman who had turned in the empty wallet. Wal-Mart security cameras show Bonilla removing cash from the wallet before turning it in, reports said.

After she was arrested, Bonilla told deputies that she took $360 from the wallet and had already spent the money, reports said. But the person who owned the wallet said $500 was missing, the report said.

Bonilla was charged with grand theft and remains at the county jail in Land O'Lakes in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Man charged with murder wants to exclude first trial

DADE CITY -- When he faces trial on a charge of first-degree murder, possibly next month, Jonathan Dye Jones doesn't want the jury to know it will be his second trial on murder charges.

Jones, 36, is charged with the Jan. 6, 2001 murder of Florentino Cano, 47, at Cano's Dade City mobile home. Authorities say Jones was involved with two women who planned to lure Cano into having sex while they stole his wallet.

When things went wrong, investigators say, Jones stepped in and opened fire with a pistol and killed Cano.

Jones has been charged before.

Jones was charged in the 1993 rape and murder of former girlfriend Kathryn Murphy, a 36-year-old teacher's aide from Lacoochee. A jury acquitted him in 1994.

Appointed defense attorney Sam Williams on Monday moved to exclude any mention of the first trial from Jones' upcoming new trial. Prosecutor Phil Van Allen said the state would not object.

Williams also wants part of a videotaped Sheriff's Office interview in connection with the latest arrest excluded from the new trial. Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb agreed to watch the two-hour tape this week and rule later.

Jones is scheduled for trial April 7.

Officers say infant's death doesn't appear suspicious

PORT RICHEY -- Pasco County sheriff's investigators do not suspect foul play to be the cause of a 3-month-old girl's death Saturday morning, a sheriff's spokesman said Monday.

Jon Powers said investigators have found nothing suspicious in the death of the girl.

Investigators are waiting for the final cause of death determination from the Pasco-Pinellas Medical Examiner's Office.

Deputies went to 11610 Bruin Drive shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday after receiving a 911 call that a little girl had stopped breathing.

The girl was taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, where she was pronounced dead.

Woman accused of hitting son, father with hammer

HUDSON -- A 44-year-old Hudson woman is facing a charge of child abuse and domestic battery after a 12-year-old boy and his father told deputies that she hit them with a hammer Saturday night, her arrest report says.

Piper Harrison, 10614 Brave Lane, was arrested at her house at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. According to her arrest report, the boy told deputies that at 11:25 p.m. Saturday, Harrison hit him on the forehead with the hammer and then hit his father on the arm when he intervened.

The boy and the father both said Harrison had been drinking Saturday night. They were both treated and released from Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point.

Harrison left, the report said, and deputies found her Sunday night. She told deputies that she did hit the boy, but "it was an accident" and she was just trying to scare him.

Harrison was taken to the Land O'Lakes jail, where she was being held Monday evening on $2,000 bail.

Call about argument yields marijuana 'grow room'

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Summoned to a house Sunday morning because of an argument over drugs, New Port Richey police made a much bigger discovery: a sophisticated growing room for marijuana plants inside a house, reports said.

Officer Chris Trapnell went to 5053 Hillside Drive at 11:40 a.m. Sunday to investigate an argument involving drugs. There, Trapnell found Richard Lubanski, 38, who lived at the Hillside Drive home.

Lubanski, according to his arrest report, admitted to having a "small amount" of marijuana in the house, Trapnell said. Lubanski then unlocked a bedroom door, revealing a "grow room."

In the room were a carbon dioxide machine, ozone generator, a motorized tract lighting system and walls lined with reflective materials. On the floor were 45 marijuana plants, each about 3 feet tall.

Lubanski, according to his arrest report, said he was growing the marijuana to sell.

Lubanski was taken to the Land O'Lakes jail, facing 45 counts of cultivating marijuana and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. He was being held Monday evening on $100,500 bail.

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