NORTH PINELLAS: Oldsmar vice mayor accused of assault

OLDSMAR - City Council member Marcelo Caruso was charged with striking his estranged wife's boyfriend in the chest during an argument Thursday and stealing her car last month.

During an interview with Pinellas County sheriff's deputies, Caruso, 31, also said he was going to get a gun, kill himself, his wife, his daughter and his wife's boyfriend, said Detective Tim Goodman, a sheriff's spokesman.

As a result, Caruso was charged with misdemeanor battery and burglary with intent to commit assault, a felony, and grand theft auto in the disappearance of his wife's 2002 Volvo, which was later found in a pond in Hillsborough County.

Caruso was being held in the Pinellas County Jail on Thursday night without bail. Because of his statements to deputies, jail officials considered him a suicide risk.

Caruso, a City Council member since 2001 and currently Oldsmar's vice mayor, has weathered previous controversy. On Thursday night, however, even his biggest supporters were saying his political career with the city is probably finished.

"He's going to have to resign," Mayor Jerry Beverland said.

The charges stem from an incident involving his estranged wife, Michele Caruso, 30. The couple have been involved in a bitter divorce for more than a year and are legally separated. She has primary custody of their 3-year-old daughter Gabriella.

Caruso had arranged to meet his wife Thursday morning to return Gabriella. When he pulled up, Michele Caruso was sitting in a 2002 Toyota 4Runner with her boyfriend, Loui Martinez, 29, of Pinellas Park. She got out of the car and went over to his truck, Michele Caruso said.

Martinez was sitting in the driver's seat with the window down. Caruso confronted him.

"He ripped (Martinez's) sunglasses off and threw them back at him," said Michele Caruso. "He just said what the f--- are you doing around my daughter? I told him to stop."

Sheriff's officials said Caruso struck Martinez in the chest, then drove off with Gabriella.

Deputies later contacted Caruso through his attorney Tom Trask, who is also the attorney for the city of Oldsmar and who declined comment. Caruso agreed to turn himself in at the sheriff's North Pinellas station.

As deputies investigated further, they also concluded that Caruso was also a suspect in the theft of his wife's 2002 Volvo on March 21.

Michele Caruso started dating Marcelo Caruso in 1997 and they married in 1999. They separated in October 2001 after what she calls a verbally abusive marriage. She has said that her husband made threats to her that he is not going to accept they are not going to be together.

"I'm very afraid," Michele Caruso said.

Council members said they were shocked when they heard the news Thursday.

Beverland called it a tragedy. He had heard of Caruso's arrest but said he thought it was for fighting.

"Oh God," said Beverland when he heard the details about the circumstances surrounding the arrest. "That ends his political career."

Newly elected council member Janice Miller said she was "disappointed that Caruso didn't think before he acted."

"It's really too bad that this would happen to him and to the city and to the residents," said Miller. "He's very young. I hope this doesn't ruin his life."

It could at least prematurely end his term on the City Council. According to the city charter, "a member of the council shall forfeit his/her office if he/she is convicted of a felony or a crime involving conduct contrary to justice, honesty or good morals."

Florida law also gives Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to suspend any elected municipal official charged with a crime. Thursday evening, Bush's press secretary couldn't say whether the governor would do that.

"This was the first time it had been brought to our attention, and it is currently under review by the governor's legal office," governor's spokeswoman Alia Faraj said.

Caruso was born in Brazil, came to the United States about 14 years ago and moved to Oldsmar in 1998. He runs a towing and auto repair business and manages real estate for his parents as well as his own properties.

Thursday's charge against Caruso is the latest chapter in a turbulent personal history that has coincided with his two years in office:

In February 2001, during his campaign for the City Council, the Times reported that Caruso was charged with impersonating a police officer in 1992 after he showed a New Jersey police badge to law enforcement officials after a fight outside a bar in Tampa. He pleaded no contest, was convicted of a lesser charge, the unlawful use of a police badge, and sentenced to one year of probation, 200 hours of community service and a $500 fine.

In mid 2001, a colleague on the City Council criticized spending city funds on an event that Caruso organized - a limousine tour of Pinellas County and luncheon for former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello, who had been impeached for collecting millions of dollars from an extortion ring.

When Reform Party member Janice Miller - now a fellow City Council member - criticized the city's involvement in the Collor event, Caruso responded during a council meeting: "I'm glad that I'm not a member of the Reform Party. They are a bunch of Nazis, aren't they?"

In March 2002, Michele Caruso sought and received a restraining order against Caruso after she claimed that he has been abusive and had threatened her. She later dropped the complaint.

Last October, Caruso fended off a complaint that could have resulted in his being removed from office. Under Oldsmar's charter, any City Council member who misses three meetings in a row without being excused for the absences can be forced out of office. After Caruso missed two meetings and a work session, two fellow Council members questioned his credibility and commitment to the city. The council eventually let the matter drop.

- Megan Scott can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or mscott@sptimes.com Times researcher Caryn Baird and staff writer Richard Danielson contributed to this report.

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