Kidnapping, sex assault trial ends before it starts
By Times Staff Writer
Published July 30, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - On the day the trial was scheduled to begin, the State Attorney's Office dropped charges against a 22-year-old Brooksville man who was accused of kidnapping a woman at knifepoint and sexually assaulting her in 2002.
The announcement came Tuesday after the victim, the prosecution's key witness, missed several flights from Pennsylvania to testify in the trial against Timothy T. Johnson, whose last known address was 829 Twigg St.
Circuit Court Judge Jack Springstead ordered Johnson's release, but state prosecutors could choose to refile charges.
In May 2002, Johnson allegedly jumped into the Pasco woman's car at the Hess Station on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville and ordered her to drive. Holding a knife to her side, Johnson led the woman to an abandoned home in Brooksville, where he ordered her to perform oral sex, authorities said. The victim also told detectives that at the house, Johnson grabbed her by the hair and raped her.
Johnson was apprehended from a police lineup and charged with armed kidnapping, two counts of sexual battery while armed and robbery by sudden snatching.
Father, son smoked crack while driving, officers say
SPRING HILL - A 33-year-old man who told officers he moved to Florida to kick his drug addiction was arrested Monday after authorities said he smoked crack with his 15-year-old son.
Officers noticed that John Wyatt was driving his red Dodge truck erratically on Deltona Boulevard about 4 a.m. Monday and pulled him over.
According to a sheriff's report, Wyatt and his son had purchased crack cocaine from a house in Spring Hill and began smoking while they were driving. Authorities said Wyatt and his son had gotten high by smoking from a Pepsi can fashioned into a crack pipe.
The teen, whose name is being withheld by the Sheriff's Office because of his age, was released into the custody of his mother. The case was forwarded to the Department of Children and Families.
Wyatt was being held at the Hernando County Jail on $10,500 bail.
Judge acquits Spring Hill man during child sex trial
BROOKSVILLE - A Spring Hill man was exonerated Tuesday of any wrongdoing stemming from incidents involving a 6-year-old girl.
Paul Anthony Lue, 43, was arrested in September 2002 and charged with capital sexual battery of the girl on two occasions.
Defense attorney Stephen E. Toner Jr. said Circuit Judge Richard Tombrink Jr., after hearing evidence during Lue's trial, acquitted Lue before the case went to the jury. Toner said Tombrink ruled that state prosecutors had not provided sufficient evidence to prove Lue's guilt.
Had he been convicted, Lue could have faced life in prison.
