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Haley police captain indicted in porn case
The hospital placed him on leave in July after the FBI notified it of the federal investigation.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published November 10, 2006
TAMPA - The police captain for the James A. Haley VA Medical Center has been indicted on charges he possessed child pornography. A federal grand jury found that between January and July, Capt. Bruce Allen Scheller possessed and attempted to possess pictures of children engaged in sexually explicit acts, according to a three-page indictment filed Wednesday. Scheller, who has worked at the hospital since October 2002, could not be located by the Times for comment Thursday afternoon. Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn M. Clark said Scheller was placed on leave in July, after the FBI first notified hospital officials about the investigation into Scheller's activities. "There is no evidence that the officer conducted any illegal activity while on duty or with any VA computer equipment," Clark wrote in an e-mail to the Times. Scheller made news earlier this year after he wrote to Assistant Chief Jose Busquets to warn him of plummeting squad morale at the hospital. "I need to know what I can do as a supervisor to try to turn the situation around," he wrote in the Feb. 27 e-mail. "If not, I can predict a massive turnover within six months to a year." Information about Scheller's arrest status was unavailable, and federal officials did not respond to inquiries about it late Thursday afternoon. Scheller's indictment is the latest in a string of scandals involving the VA hospital. Last month, a 31-page report by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs found that one patient died there because of an error during surgery and some surgeries were canceled because doctors didn't show up. In August, the hospital's operating room closed twice because of fly infestations. That same month, Haley police officer James Richter, 43, of Plant City was charged with using a law enforcement database to gain access to personal information to open fraudulent credit card accounts. Staff writer Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at (813) 226-3383 or rcatalanello@sptimes.com.
[Last modified November 10, 2006, 11:27:58]
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