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Man accused of sexual assault on girl surrenders

By Times Staff
Published February 17, 2005

TAMPA - A 39-year-old Tampa man turned himself in to authorities Wednesday, one day after the Tampa Police Department obtained a warrant for his arrest on two counts of capital sexual battery.

Lemuel "Lemmy" Santiago turned himself in to a Hillsborough County Court bailiff and denied the charges, police said. He was held without bail.

Santiago was staying with a family in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood when he sneaked into a girl's room Saturday night and sexually assaulted her, Tampa police said. Someone else walked into the room, and Santiago fled, police said.

TAMPA - A bicyclist was struck and killed by a vehicle Wednesday night on Florida Avenue in North Tampa, authorities said.

The bicyclist, whose identity was not released, was riding south of Fletcher Avenue when the accident occurred about 7:50 p.m., said spokeswoman Debbie Carter of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Carter did not provide details about the vehicle or the bicyclist, who died at the scene.

TAMPA - An inmate at the Orient Road Jail collapsed while playing basketball Wednesday and died soon afterward, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

Stevie Louis Lykes, 33, no permanent address, had been in jail without bail since Feb. 1, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter. He was arrested on charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and possession of cocaine with intent to sell, according to jail records.

Carter said Lykes was playing basketball with five other inmates about 3 p.m. when he collapsed. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where doctors later pronounced him dead. The case has been turned over to the Medical Examiner's Office to determine a cause of death.

Jail records show that Lykes had been arrested in Hillsborough County at least nine times since 2000 on charges that included possession of drug paraphernalia, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, trafficking in cocaine and delivery of cocaine.

INVERNESS - A judge held an emergency hearing Wednesday afternoon to address a medical issue involving one of the adopted children of John and Linda Dollar.

The Department of Children and Families requested the hearing, which Circuit Judge Ric Howard closed to the public. The children are in foster care.

Neither the medical issue, nor the reason for the hearing, was revealed. The Citrus County Sheriff's Office would say only that one of the children was not in school Wednesday.

John and Linda Dollar are accused of torturing five of the eight children. The abused children range in age from 12 to 17.

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 01:20:09]