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Babysitter charged with child neglect

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 29, 2007

TAMPA

Jose Ramon Soto, 28, was charged with child neglect Sunday afternoon after he fell asleep while babysitting seven children from 3 to 13 years old, including two of his own, and several wandered away from the house.

The older children left to play basketball but didn't lock the door. The 3- and 4-year-old children left and began wandering the apartment complex at 1526 River Lane in Wellswood. A neighbor called police, who arrested Soto. Soto, an auto technician, has been arrested several times. His past charges include aggravated assault and domestic battery.

GIBSONTON

31-year-old man found dead

Sheriff's deputies say a 31-year-old man was found dead behind an Advance Auto Parts store in southeast Hillsborough County.

Investigators did not release the man's name, because his relatives had not been notified. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Sunday that he was a vagrant and that he suffered trauma to his upper body.

22-year-old from Sunrise dies in Iraq

In September, just before Army Sgt. Phillip McNeill left for his second tour of duty in Iraq, his friend Heather Smause surprised him with a handmade dark-blue comforter to keep him warm.

She didn't expect it would be a goodbye gift.

"I wanted to give him something he'd have forever," said Smause, of Coral Springs, whose husband befriended McNeill in high school. "I thought he'd be coming home soon."

But on Jan. 20, McNeill, a combat medic who lived in Sunrise, was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Karmah, Iraq. He was 22. Seven other paratroopers also died that day in two incidents.

[Last modified January 29, 2007, 01:10:29]