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Store's owner nabbed in sting

Thursday's arrest is the latest in a series of issues surrounding Castel Bantuit.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published March 16, 2007

LARGO - Castel Bantuit hasn't opened its doors to the public yet, but already the Halloween-themed store on Missouri Avenue has garnered plenty of attention.

Not all of it good.

Last month, the city issued property owners Helene Urbin and Bert Beigel a notice of violation because of the unconventional and eye-catching signs painted on the front of the building at 1751 Missouri Ave.

Then on Thursday, a police sting: an undercover detective went to the back of the building and purchased a pair of contact lenses from Urbin, who isn't licensed to sell them, police Sgt. Howard Crosby said.

Police, armed with a search warrant, then seized 99 pairs of illegal contacts, including ones imprinted with spider webs, smiling faces and cat eyes, Crosby said.

Urbin was arrested on two counts of dispensing contact lenses without a prescription, a felony. She was being held in the Pinellas County Jail Thursday in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Thursday was not Urbin's first arrest. In 1995, she was charged with trafficking cocaine and intimidating a witness. She was convicted and sentenced to 2 1/2 years.

Urbin, 58, and her boyfriend of four years, Bert Beigel, 80, bought the property plus the vacant lot next to it last March for more than $1-million, according to public records.

The couple have said they plan to renovate the 15,000-square-foot building into a gift shop selling candy, gothic T-shirts, jewelry and caskets, plus a haunted house.

The second floor, they said, would be a stage where they could have magicians and play The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It didn't take long for the building's exterior signs to grab the attention of city officials, who say they violate city codes. Urbin and Beigel later received a stop-work order because they hadn't acquired the proper permits, officials have said.

On Thursday, Crosby said fire and code officials were back at Castel Bantuit and planned to cut power to the building, delaying, if not dashing, the couple's hopes of ever opening the store.

Staff researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 15, 2007, 23:09:56]