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For police and judges, a busy year reining in crime

A sheriff's sergeant was shot, murder-suicides shocked several neighborhoods, and a bait shop was the unlikely setting for death and heroism.

Citrus County's crime news in 2003 was marked by tragic events that involved some of the most beloved members of the community.

In May, Citrus County sheriff's Sgt. David "Pasta" DeCarlo was shot while serving a search warrant at a Citrus Springs home where drug activity was suspected.

He survived, as did Larry Robbins, who also was shot. DeCarlo is still recovering from injuries and eager to get back to work, while Robbins is in jail facing charges of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and possession of a firearm by a felon.

In October, a popular Citrus Springs Middle School teacher was found dead in the Pine Ridge home he shared with his father. Tom Taylor, 31, also was the girls soccer coach at Citrus High School.

Authorities determined that Taylor's father, John "Rex" Taylor, 67, shot his son, then shot himself in the home.

There also were two other murder-suicides this year.

An elderly Beverly Hills couple married 43 years meticulously carried out their plan in March, down to leaving a $200 check to cover damages to the carpet in Room 106 at the Days Inn on U.S. 19 in Crystal River.

Police said Raymond Donald Eirich, 73, shot his 77-year-old wife, Helen, then turned the gun on himself. They left a note explaining that Raymond Donald Eirich recently was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and had two weeks to two months to live. Helen didn't want to be without him.

A couple who lived in the tight-knit Riverhaven Village neighborhood were found dead in their home in May as sheriff's authorities conducted a well-being check. They said Tom Newell, 82, shot his wife, Pat, 63, first before turning the gun on himself.

Also in 2003, grand juries indicted two men on charges of first-degree murder in connection with two separate killings.

Keith Allen Benafield of Inverness was charged with one count of first-degree murder in September in connection with the 2001 death of a 59-year-old traveling evangelist. Kenneth Richardson, who was from Indiana and also had a home in Homosassa, was found with an arrow through his torso at Fort Island Gulf Beach.

In the killing of Donald Craig Caducci, who was found shot to death at the end of a dead-end street in Old Homosassa late in 2002, James Allen Head was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

In July, a grand jury accused the daughter and granddaughter of 81-year-old Helene India Johnson of failing to properly care for her before she died.

Patricia E. Wells and Wendy Anita Wells-Morris were each indicted on charges of aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person, neglect of an elderly person and principal to a felony in the first degree. Johnson previously was found by deputies in her Homosassa home so thin she appeared to have been malnourished.

The Homosassa River also was in the news a lot this year.

In September, Eustace Hiram Locklear stepped on the gas, instead of the brake, as he pulled into MacRae's bait and tackle shop to get a little gas. A worker at MacRae's pulled Locklear out of the water.

Then, on a rainy night in October, a car full of people drove into the river on the other side of MacRae's, killing Bob Romaine, 77, of Hernando.

On the bottom of Hernando Lake, weighed down by water-filled clothing, the body of 14-year-old Tommy Ray Jr. of Tampa was found in January after a three-day search. His friend, Travis Estes, who rode in a 14-foot johnboat with him, survived.

In August, a 4-month-old baby died after being left in a parked car with the windows rolled up for about four hours. Laurel Jurban was secured in her safety seat in the back and apparently forgotten by her aunt, Rebecca Jurban, who returned to the Citronelle home she resided in with the baby's parents.

No criminal charges were filed against the aunt.

At the Sheriff's Office, four deputies lost their jobs.

The termination of George C. Phelps came in October, when he was charged with domestic battery and child neglect.

Training Sgt. Vern Blevins was fired in April after allegedly insulting Sheriff Jeff Dawsy on a voice-mail system.

Robert Crowell was fired the next month after his marked sheriff's patrol car was seen in Orlando. Sheriff's officials later discovered he kept an apartment there.

And John Lloyd was allowed to resign after speeding 45 mph over the limit to get to a convenience store before it stopped selling alcohol at 2 a.m.

Crime in the county extended to the Internet, as well.

An electrical engineer for the U.S. Army, Steven Wayne Sanders, was arrested in October and accused of arranging a sexual liaison with a 15-year-old girl who actually was a sheriff's detective posing as a teenager in a computer chat room.

Authorities also said Ralph Wayne Vanderpoel, an ordained minister and deacon in Pinellas Park, pretended he was a 19-year-old University of Florida college student and also his roommate to maintain a computer relationship with a 15-year-old Citrus County girl. He was arrested in March.

Also in 2003, police believed one of the men who robbed the Capital City Bank branch on U.S. 41 N in Inverness in May was the Band-Aid Bandit, who had hit at least 30 Florida banks since 2000.

In criminal court, Circuit Judge Ric A. Howard seated 30 jury trials this year, down from 52 trials in 2002.

But what likely would have been one of the most dramatic trials of the year was delayed for the second time.

James Utsey, the Citrus County man accused of killing his mother in December 2000, was to have stood trial on a first-degree murder charge in August.

But the morning his trial was set to begin in Brooksville - where it was moved due to pretrial publicity - Howard learned Utsey had been without his psychotropic medication for about four days due to an error made during his transfer between jails.

The trial, which also had to be postponed a year earlier when Howard deemed Utsey incompetent to stand trial, was continued again. Utsey, 33, was found to be competent last spring but takes drugs that treat schizophrenia.

"It's impossible for us at this time to continue with these proceedings," said Howard, irritated by the mistake.

Utsey's trial tentatively is scheduled for February. The Citrus County jail made amends by offering to cover the county's bill for Utsey until his trial begins.

One of the longest trials of the year didn't end well for James Stephen "Grumpy" Morrell, 56, who prosecutors said led a drug ring that brought 3 kilograms of cocaine into the county each month.

During a four-day trial in late July, prosecutors played wiretap recordings for the jury, which included conversations about auto parts. Citrus County sheriff's detectives said the references to bad batteries, spare tires and light bulbs actually were code words for drugs.

The jury bought the theory and found Morrell guilty of running a continuing criminal enterprise, criminal conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and possessing cocaine.

Howard, who presided over the case, immediately imposed a mandatory life sentence for the continuing criminal enterprise charge.

Another local man had more luck in Courtroom B, the wood-paneled courtroom where criminal trials are held in the new courthouse addition that opened in January.

Freddie Ray Bruce, 21, was acquitted in November of three counts of sexual battery. A 16-year-old girl had accused the Inverness man of raping her in a wooded area off Croft Road early the morning of July 6, 2002, but Bruce defended the encounter as consensual sexual intercourse between two strangers.

The girl, who weeped profusely during her testimony, had lied to her parents and police, said defense attorney Jim Cummins during the two-day trial.

"Her statement is inaccurate all the way through," Cummins told jurors.

A jury of two men and four women found Bruce not guilty after just one hour of deliberation.

A circuit civil case that ended with a hefty payout to a young family this year almost didn't make it to local news pages.

Joseph and Rebecca Davis were awarded $6.65-million in a settlement reached April 11 for what they alleged was negligent care given by doctors and nurses at Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center during the birth of their son.

Cody Davis suffered permanent brain damage during his mother's labor and delivery at the hospital on Sept. 21, 2000, according to court records. The family sued. One month before trial, the parties settled.

The hospital and medical professionals denied all wrongdoing.

"It's absolutely tragic what happened with this child and absolutely preventable," said Rebecca L. Larson, the West Palm Beach lawyer who represented the Davises.

Lawyers involved in the suit believed details of the settlement were confidential. So they were unpleasantly surprised when a Times reporter began asking questions about the case, which was outlined in a court file unintentionally left open for public viewing.

They quickly petitioned to have the file sealed.

The family, which will receive about $3.3-million of the total medical malpractice award, has since left Citrus County.

- Suzannah Gonzales can be reached at 860-7312 or sgonzales@sptimes.com Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 860-7303 or cjenkins@sptimes.com