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Tampa uncuffed

Coming soon to bookstores: 'The Debra Lafave Story'

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 17, 2006

As if enough print hasn't already been dedicated to Debra Beasley Lafave, a longtime author and award-winning film writer has a book in the works.

Bill Simon, writer and producer of the Emmy-nominated Setting Sail, a PBS documentary with Walter Cronkite, is supposed to turn the Lafave book in to publishers within the next few months, according to Lafave's ex-husband, Owen Lafave.

Simon, who lives in California, did not return a message left on his answering machine Thursday.

Debra Lafave, 25, is not involved with the project. As part of her recent plea deal with Hillsborough prosecutors, she cannot make any money from books, movies or the like.

Owen Lafave, meanwhile, is in the production stage of a documentary to be finished in the fall about teachers who have sex with students.

He will narrate After School, a Powerhouse Pictures documentary directed by Chris Barrett.

SHERIFF HIRING: The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is hiring child protection supervisors, investigators and trainees in anticipation of its planned takeover of Department of Children and Families investigations.

The Sheriff's Office first moved to assume DCF investigations in 2003, but budget constraints kept the deal from happening. When David Gee became sheriff in January 2005, he revived negotiations.

The proposed state budget for next fiscal year sets aside $16-million for the move, said Chief Deputy Jose Docobo. That includes $8-million currently used each year by the DCF's Hillsborough operation, plus $8-million the Sheriff's Office will use to improve the way investigations are handled.

For example, the 100 civilian investigators hired by the Sheriff's Office will each get cars and computers.

"Right now you have investigators trying to transport children in their personal vehicles," Docobo said.

The money will cover furniture and supplies for the staff of 163, including 152 civilians and 11 law enforcement supervisors. Also, salaries will be higher than what the DCF now offers, Docobo said. Supervisors' annual pay will start at $42,036, and investigators will make $37,252 to $55,868 annually. Child investigation trainees, who will be getting experience as part of their job certification, will make between $32,884 and $49,316.

The new fiscal year starts July 1.

By interviewing applicants now, "we're just trying to get ahead of the curve so we have these people in place by then," Docobo said.

TAKE YOUR KEYS: So far this year, Tampa police have investigated more than three dozen cases in which a vehicle was stolen after drivers left the keys inside.

Tampa police Sgt. David Puig said the most dramatic recent case, which occurred Wednesday, shows why police are always reminding drivers to lock the doors and take their keys with them.

Shortly before dawn, roofing company worker Robert Beverly left the keys inside his company's white pickup truck while it was parked at a Sunoco gas station in Seminole Heights.

Police say Efren Hernandez, 42, stole the truck belonging to General Works of Tampa Inc., and within minutes crashed it through the front door of a nearby home. Then Hernandez broke into another home a few blocks away, where he changed into the clothes of the 63-year-old female homeowner, according to investigators.

"People say, "Oh, I'll just run in for a minute,' and they leave their keys," said Puig, who leads the police agency's auto theft/hit and run squad. "But, bingo, it's a crime of opportunity."

Kevin Palmer, manager and president of General Works, said his company will pay dearly for an incident that could have been avoided.

"That truck is in very dire straits."

MEMORIAL ON WEB: The family of Katie Marchetti, the Durant High School junior killed earlier this month following a crash along Interstate 75 in southern Hillsborough, has created a Web site for the foundation recently established in her name.

The site, www.thekatiemarchettimemorialfoundation.com features information about the foundation, which her parents set up as part of their planned advocacy for teenage driving safety.

Katie, 16, was in the passenger's seat of her Toyota Scion when her boyfriend lost control of the car while driving home March 4 from Sarasota. Katie was ejected from the car onto I-75, and another car ran over her. She died the next morning at Tampa General Hospital.

Contact Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 17, 2006, 01:54:15]