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Driver charged in fatal wreck

A blood test shows the presence of five drugs in the man's body.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 27, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - The story that started last month with a deadly car wreck on County Line Road and continued last week with a slow blood test and a frustrated widow took another step Thursday as the State Attorney's Office filed a list of serious charges against the driver of the other car.

Six weeks after Tracey "Terry" Moore, 44, was killed in the brutal collision, prosecutor Rob Lewis charged Joseph Vascellaro, 28, with vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter, DUI with personal injury and possession of methadone and prescription forms. Those charges came a day after Lewis got back the long-awaited results of a test that showed five drugs in Vascellaro's blood - including cocaine and marijuana.

"This guy was a rolling pharmacy," Lewis said.

The hearing Thursday morning took place in the chambers of Circuit Judge Jack Springstead. The judge gave Vascellaro no chance for bond. Arraignment was set for Nov. 14.

"It's not going to bring my husband back," Debbie Moore said. "But maybe something good will come out of it. And he's not going to hurt anybody else."

The wreck happened Sept. 11 just after 8 p.m. Vascellaro was going about 50 mph in his Honda truck when he veered into Moore's Honda van. The head-on impact ripped Moore's steering wheel off the column.

Moore, who had moved four years ago from Northamptonshire, England, and lived in the Pasco County part of Spring Hill, died on the side of the road a mile from his home. His 14-year-old daughter was in the passenger seat and suffered only minor injuries.

Criminal records from New York show Vascellaro was sentenced in 2002 to four years in prison for possession of stolen property. He did less than a year of that before getting out on parole.

Last month, at the time of the accident, Vascellaro, of Spring Hill, was out on bond on an earlier, unrelated cocaine possession charge.

Last week, he had a court date for that charge, and wanted to make an open plea - but Springstead put off any resolution until this week in hopes that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would finish the blood test.

Lewis said Thursday the FDLE made the Vascellaro case a "super-priority."

For the hearing on Thursday, three deputies led Vascellaro, in handcuffs, ankle chains and a tan Hernando County Jail jumpsuit, into a small conference room in Springstead's chambers. In the room: Springstead, Lewis, defense attorney Robert Morris, the three deputies, the state attorney's victims' advocate, a court reporter, two newspaper reporters and Debbie Moore.

Lewis told the court about the results of the test.

He filed the charges.

Springstead issued the no-bond order.

After the hearing, Vascellaro was led into the lobby, where he shuffled past his girlfriend's mother, his girlfriend and their young son.

He just shook his head and looked at the ground.

Debbie Moore was asked why she wanted to be in the hearing room.

"I just wanted to see him," she said. "To see if he was going to look at me.

"Which he didn't."

But she said she was glad about that.

She said she saw what she needed to see.

Shame.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified October 26, 2006, 22:11:49]