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Florida soldier dies from Iraq injuries

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 16, 2006

MIAMI

A Florida soldier was one of two who died of injuries suffered while conducting security and observation operations in Iraq, the Pentagon said Friday.

Pfc. Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21, of Miami and Pfc. Albert M. Nelson, 31, of Philadelphia died Dec. 4. They had come under small arms fire in Ramadi, the Defense Department said. More details were not available.

Both were assigned to the Army's 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo.

FORT MYERS

Police seeking man in stolen baby case

Police said Friday they want to talk to a "known enforcer" in a human smuggling ring about the abduction of a Brazilian couple's baby boy two weeks ago.

Valter Coehlo, 45, of Lehigh Acres, is wanted for questioning because he may have information about the snatching of month-old Bryan Dos Santos Gomes on Dec. 1, Fort Myers police said. He is not being called a suspect.

Bryan was taken from his mother at knifepoint by a woman in a sport-utility vehicle who gave them a ride. Investigators say the baby might have been taken because his parents failed to pay smugglers who brought them into the United States illegally from Brazil.

FORT LAUDERDALE

Illegal-worker ring operators sentenced

Two Polish natives who admitted running a nationwide ring that leased illegal immigrants to work at U.S. companies were sentenced to prison Friday.

Jozef Bronislaw Bogacki, 43, a naturalized U.S. citizen who had been living in Clearwater, was sentenced to 57 months and ordered to pay penalties and forfeit properties worth more than $1.4-million. Jaroslaw "Jerry" Sawczuk, 39, a Polish and Canadian citizen who lived in Coral Springs, was sentenced to 51 months and fined $950,000.

The two had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud for bringing hundreds of people illegally from Eastern Europe to work under lease arrangements at U.S. farms, factories, dairies and food plants, prosecutors said. The workers were advertised as being in the U.S. legally.

TALLAHASSEE

Donations to Crist inaugural hit $216,000

The group raising donations to pay for Gov.-elect Charlie Crist's inaugural reported $216,000 collected Friday, mostly in amounts of $10,000. That's the maximum contribution allowed since Crist canceled a big-money bash.

Donors include citrus growers, real estate developers, law firms and health care companies. To see the full list, go to www.charliecrist.com.

PALM BEACH GARDENS

Backyard bushes soften pilot's crash

Richard Sheldon, 52, of Jupiter suffered only minor injuries Friday when his ultralight plane plunged into a backyard hedge.

The bushes "probably made his day a lot better," fire rescue Deputy Chief Chris Brown said.

2 WHO KILLED SPOUSES GET CLEMENCY

The life prison sentences of two women who murdered their allegedly abusive husbands were commuted by Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet Thursday.

Sandra Patria of Manatee County and Sherry Perry of Seminole County will be released.

Patria, 50, has been in prison nearly 23 years. Perry, who first claimed two men from Panama killed her husband, has been in prison for 10 years.

As part of the arrangement, both women will spend 18 months in programs to help victims of domestic violence, a Cabinet aide said Friday.

It takes a yes vote from the governor and two of the three Cabinet members to grant clemency.

It could not be learned Friday how members of the Cabinet - Bush, Attorney General Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson - voted.

[Last modified December 16, 2006, 01:10:33]