5 sentenced in hit-run cases

CLEARWATER - Two unrelated, serious hit-and-run crashes have been resolved in court recently and will result in four people spending time behind bars.

The hit-and-run cases involve a woman who was struck and killed in June 2002 on Sunset Point Road and an off-duty Clearwater police officer who was seriously hurt when a driver pulled in front of his motorcycle in May 2003.

The fatal crash occurred on June 3, 2002, when a green and white Mercury Cougar struck and killed Barbara Anne Molochnikov, 56. The car left the scene, but police later found it in Pasco County.

After an investigation, police arrested Dennis Lynn, 43, and Roseanne Merkle, 45, both of Holiday, on charges they had tried to hide the car after the crash. The arrests came three months after the crash.

Police believe either Lynn or Merkle was driving the car that night, but could never prove it. Still, both Lynn and Merkle pleaded guilty to the tampering charges last month.

Judge Douglas Baird on Thursday sentenced Lynn to nearly 18 months in prison, followed by 18 months of probation. The judge sentenced Merkle to 90 days in jail, followed by three years of probation.

Lynn received a harsher sentence because he has a fairly lengthy criminal history. Merkle had a clean record before her arrest on the tampering charge.

The other hit-and-run crash occurred on May 15, 2003, when Clearwater police Officer Douglas Munson was driving his 2003 Suzuki motorcycle on Hercules Avenue. Munson, who was leaving work, saw a car turn in front of him and tried to avoid a collision. But he ran into the car and suffered serious injuries.

The car left the scene.

Though the crash was just outside the city limits, Clearwater investigators joined the Florida Highway Patrol in a search for the vehicle. By analyzing auto parts left at the scene, they determined the car was a red 1990s Nissan Sentra.

Two months later, police received a tip that someone from Clearwater was trying to get a red Nissan Sentra fixed in Lake City. Police looked at the car and determined it was the car Munson hit.

Investigators tracked the car to Amy Christ, 36, of Dunedin. Police learned she and her friend, Ward Hemond, 39, also of Dunedin, had been at a bar the night of the crash. Police became convinced that they had enlisted an acquaintance, Quinton Granberry, 39, to help them get the car fixed secretly.

Nearly seven months after the crash, police arrested all three on charges of evidence tampering.

Hemond was the first to offer a guilty plea, which he did on Feb. 9. He told investigators that Christ had been driving the car when the accident occurred. Hemond admitted his involvement in the evidence tampering, prosecutor Scott Rosenwasser said.

Judge Linda Allan sentenced Hemond to five years probation.

Christ pleaded guilty to the tampering charge on April 5. She never acknowledged driving the car the night of the crash and prosecutors could not prove she was behind the wheel.

Allan sentenced Christ to 90 days in jail, followed by two years of community control, which will be followed by three years of probation.

Christ has been arrested on five previous charges in Pinellas County, including leaving the scene of an accident and DUI in 2002.

Granberry pleaded no contest to the tampering charge on April 5. Allan sentenced him to just over 18 months in prison. "He was pretty much the guy that made it happen because he was the connection between Clearwater and Lake City, where the car was repaired," Rosenwasser said.

Granberry has a more lengthy criminal history than the other co-defendants, which factored into his sentence. He faced a maximum of five years in prison, but Allan gave him the minimum prison term possible under sentencing guidelines, Rosenwasser said.

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