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Police release sketch of rapist

By Times Staff
Published June 14, 2005

TAMPA - Four months after a man broke into her east Tampa mobile home and raped her, the victim has recovered enough to describe her attacker to detectives.

Police on Monday released a sketch of the attacker, described as a clean-shaven, thin black man in his mid 40s who is between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 7.

Police say he was driving a newer-model silver or gray four-door Honda Civic at the time of the attack, which occurred Feb. 18 at 3:30 a.m.

The man broke into the mobile home in the 4800 block of E Hillsborough Avenue and began beating the woman. He raped her and cut her so severely she had to be hospitalized, police said.

Anyone with information can call Tampa police Detective D. Noblitt or CrimeStoppers at (800) 873-8477.

TAMPA - An undercover drug sting Friday night ended with the arrest of two men and the seizure of $40,000 worth of Ecstasy pills, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office announced Monday.

The Sheriff's Office and Tampa Police Department worked together on the buy-bust, which took place at the Days Inn at 2522 N Dale Mabry Highway.

At 10:25 p.m., undercover officers bought drugs from Daniel Febo, 20, and Luis Garcia, 23, both of 1022 Windsor Way in Lutz, according to a sheriff's report. Officers seized 2,003 Ecstasy pills with a street value of $40,000, sheriff's officials said.

Febo and Garcia were charged with trafficking in illegal drugs and conspiracy to traffic in illegal drugs, first-degree felonies. Both are being held without bail in the county jail, records show.

TAMPA - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will hold a free seminar on computer security for homes and businesses Thursday.

The seminar, which is open to the public, is titled Cyber-Security Awareness for Everyone, or C-SAFE. It will focus on securing computers from hackers as well as ways to protect children who use the Internet.

The C-SAFE seminar will be held at the FDLE office at 4211 N Lois Ave. in Tampa from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. To sign up, go to the FDLE Web site at www.fdle.state.fl.us and click on the C-SAFE icon.

TAMPA - Sheriff's officials on Monday identified Jose Peraza of 6102 Webb Road, Apt. 1312, as the 32-year-old man who died Sunday afternoon when he lost control of his 2005 Suzuki motorcycle.

Peraza was driving south on Benjamin Road at 4:45 p.m. when he veered off the west side of the road north of Gardner Court Drive into a ditch, according to a sheriff's report. He flew off the motorcycle and hit a big cluster of shrubs, deputies say. He died at the scene.

Peraza had just left a dealership with the newly purchased Suzuki.

"He was unfamiliar with how to properly operate it," said Cpl. Patti Morris of the Sheriff's Office.

Peraza was wearing a helmet, deputies said.

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 06:18:46]