Around Tampa Bay

Grandmother will not be charged with kidnapping

ST. PETERSBURG - A St. Petersburg woman accused of kidnapping her 18-month-old granddaughter won't be charged with a crime, said FBI spokeswoman Sara Oates.

Nancy Bebout, 39, took the girl, Mackenzie Bryant, from a babysitter last week in Dolton, Ill., and brought her to St. Petersburg, where Bebout lives, Oates said. The girl, who was not harmed, has been returned to her mother in Illinois, Oates said.

Bebout, who has a history of psychological problems, appeared in federal court Monday before a U.S. magistrate but was later released, Oates said.

ST. PETERSBURG - A man and woman were robbed at gunpoint early Monday outside BayWalk.

No one was injured or arrested in the 12:01 a.m. robbery in the 100 block of Third Avenue N, police spokesman George Kajtsa said.

Police said Alison O'Brien, 21, and John Ray, 23, were walking to their car from Muvico when a man approached them behind the movie theater.

The man pointed a .357-magnum at their heads and demanded the woman's purse and the man's wallet, police said. The man sped away with the property in a 1994 tan Nissan.

The man is described as black, slender, in his 20s and 6 feet tall. He was wearing khaki pants, a black shirt and a V-neck sweater. Anyone with information can call police at (727) 893-7179.

TAMPA - A 51-year-old Riverview man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for stealing cars from the side of the road and selling them as scrap metal.

Roger Mann, a tow truck driver, pleaded guilty in August to nine counts of grand theft before Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe. Authorities said Mann towed away cars along Interstate 4, Interstate 75 and other highways in east Hillsborough between January and October 2002. The cars' owners had left the vehicles but intended to reclaim them.

In giving Mann 10 years, the judge found him to be a habitual felony offender. Mann had prior convictions for grand theft and operating a chop shop.

Prosecutor Charlotte Diggs said Mann received $75 to $100 for each car, which he sold at Copher's U-Wrench-It salvage yard on Causeway Boulevard in Tampa. Mann signed affidavits claiming that he owned them.

The salvage yard operators said they did not know the cars were stolen and were not charged. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office was conducting an unrelated investigation when records at the salvage yard led them to Mann.

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