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Fake Storms profile appears on popular Internet site

By Times Staff
Published May 2, 2006

Hillsborough Commissioner Ronda Storms is the victim of cyber identity theft - again.

This time, someone posted a phony profile of Storms on MySpace.com, the Internet networking site popular with all the kids these days.

At first, the profile looks legit, with the fake Storms fairly accurately providing the real Storms' personal information: Husband, daughter, educational degrees, etc. It even plausibly lists the Christian music group Jars of Clay as being on Storms' stereo.

But by the time one scrolls to her "friends," who allegedly include Jesus and Nancy Reagan , things start to get suspicious. Scroll a little more to their comments, and it's clear those people aren't her friends.

Most of them mock her appearance or her stance against government recognition of gay pride, often in extremely off-color terms. Another includes a photo of what appears to be a heavyset kid wearing a T-shirt with a vulgar assertion printed on it. Click around and one can find the fake Storms sending chiding messages to other MySpace members.

Knowing that MySpace participants must clear who posts on their page confirms the identity theft.

Storms sent an e-mail to County Attorney Renee Lee Monday asking that she contact MySpace to have Storms' likeness removed. MySpace didn't immediately return an e-mail seeking comment, but its terms for use include prohibitions against impersonating others and posting patently offensive material.

"To do this with a child is terrible to me," Storms said. "I just can't tell you how offensive this is."

Impersonators in the past have created a Yahoo e-mail account in Storm's name that she got the company to discontinue. They also set up a fake Web site. There's a fake political blog in her name, too.

A LITTLE FAVOR?: There has been considerable speculation that there's more than meets the eye to a proposal by Hillsborough County to direct future tourist tax dollars toward renovations at the St. Pete Times Forum, Raymond James Stadium and Legends Field.

Scuttlebutt has it that Commission Chairman Jim Norman is behind the proposal and that it has something to do with freeing up money for the $40-million championship park idea he's pitching.

Some note the timing and say he's putting this forward in advance of a request coming next month from the city of Tampa for county support of creating a tax district needed for the redevelopment of the Central Park housing complex. Quid pro quo, city?

Norman acknowledged Monday that he is the one who asked county staff to look at using tourist tax dollars to address current and future renovations needed at the three sports arenas. But he said that if it had to do with his championship park idea, he would have suggested the money just go toward that.

"That's the most ludicrous thing I've heard in my entire life," Norman said. "If I would have thought that, I would have just put that on the table."

As for the quid pro quo, Norman said there was no relationship. He said he generally supports that taxing district proposal, regardless of the outcome on his stadium renovation plan, as long as the city can show people who live in Central Park now won't lose out under the redevelopment plan.

"Y'all are trying to put together these conspiracies and I think it's almost funny," he said.

SHINING LIGHT: What's that bright light in Tampa? It's consultant and former mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez , who was named the nation's Daily Point of Light on April 13.

Former President George Bush coined the "points of light" phrase to promote volunteerism. A news release from the nonprofit Points of Light Foundation praised Sanchez for, among other things, his involvement in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Meanwhile, Sanchez last week accepted an offer from developer Bill Bishop and Lazy Days Super RV Center founder Don Wallace to work as CEO of Renaissance Steel. Bishop and Wallace are shareholders in the Ybor City-based company that manufactures light-gauge steel trusses and frames for construction of houses and buildings up to seven stories.

The two supported Sanchez in his 2003 mayoral bid. Sanchez was rumored to be a potential candidate for the 2007 City Council races, but in January he said he will not run. Sanchez, 46, said he's done with politics. For now.

[Last modified May 2, 2006, 01:57:13]