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Neo-Nazi leader beaten in jail
Pasco sheriff's officials are looking into what happened to the man under investigation for a fatal stabbing.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published March 26, 2006
Neo-Nazi Shawn Plott, who is caught up in the investigation of a fatal stabbing in Pasco County, was beaten by inmates in jail Sunday, the Sheriff's Office said.
Plott, 33, was in a common room with 46 other inmates. A detention deputy stepped out shortly after 1 p.m. and returned to find Plott slumped over at a table, jail officials said.
Plott told corrections officers he had been hit but didn't know by whom. He was taken to a local hospital with cuts and bruises, jail officials said.
The inmates professed ignorance, officials said.
"We're trying to figure out exactly what happened to him," said sheriff's Lt. Skip Stone.
Plott was being held on two warrants unrelated to the stabbings Thursday in New Port Richey. He is under investigation in the knife attacks on Patricia Wells and Kristofer King but is not charged.
Kristofer King died of his wounds. Wells, 45, is recovering and has moved.
Plott is the leader of a whites-only neo-Nazi group that hangs out in a mobile home on Teak Street, next door to the home where the stabbings took place. The group had been feuding with Wells.
About 12:30 a.m. Thursday, authorities said, a man wearing a gas mask knocked on Wells' door and began stabbing her in the face and hands. The attacker left her bleeding and turned his rage toward Kristofer King, 17, a friend of Wells' son. King was staying at the mobile home, but Wells' son, Brandon Wininger, 18, was not home.
King's mother, Charlene King, suspects the attacker thought her son was Wells' son, who is gay.
Another member of the neo-Nazi group, John Ditullio, was arrested after a SWAT team standoff on Friday morning. He also was held in unrelated crimes.
He said inmates jumped him early Friday after hearing about the stabbings on TV. Guards broke up the fight with pepper spray.
In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Ditullio named Plott as the attacker. Plott, he said, had been fuming since his girlfriend was threatened earlier this month by a man visiting Wells.
Ditullio, 20, said Plott left the group's hangout late Wednesday during a long night of drinking, then returned in a strange mood.
"I've taken care of them forever," Ditullio recalled Plott saying.
Plott was held without bail Sunday.
[Last modified March 26, 2006, 22:11:02]
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