Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

A pot of chili wasn't the only thing that got hot

By ERIN SULLIVAN
Published March 22, 2007

FROM THE ARREST REPORTS, PASCO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE - On Tuesday, tempers, alcohol and revenge got the better of some men and women in West Pasco County. Their relationships might never be the same. Or maybe that's a good thing.

The first story involved chili.

* * *

Renee Nelson and her live-in boyfriend, Paul Kurtti, fought in the kitchen of their Holiday home, where Nelson was making a pot of chili.

As the finale to the argument, according to reports, Kurtti stubbed out his cigarette. In the pot of chili.

He then walked off to the bedroom.

Nelson followed.

With the chili.

Which, the reports said, she then threw on him. The hot chili poured down his neck and back. The police were called.

Nelson was arrested on two charges of domestic battery. She is in the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of a $3,000 bond. She had injuries to her forearm and knee, but would not cooperate with deputies, so no charges were filed against Kurtti, according to the report. He was not arrested.

* * *

The second story involves alcohol, a shovel, a rake and a rock.

Jose Rosas was drunk, according to his girlfriend, Cheryl Perez, who told this to the cops who showed up later. They live together in Port Richey and have children. She needed to go to the store, but didn't want him driving, she said. When she went near her truck, Rosas pushed her away so he could go. So she called for help from her brother, Randy Perez, who also lives at the home and came outside.

He saw Rosas brandishing a shovel.

Perez grabbed a rake.

"For self-defense," he told police.

Rosas swung the shovel at him and Cheryl Perez.

Then, without any major connections of shovel to flesh, Rosas dropped it.

Jumping on this opportunity, Randy Perez told police he swung and hit Rosas with the rake.

Then Perez started to walk away.

Rosas grabbed a rock and threw it at Perez, who told police the rock smacked him on the left side of his head, causing cuts and swelling, added to the cuts on his back and arms from all the tussling. The arrest report says Cheryl Perez also had cuts and swelling on her head from Rosas pushing her.

After being medically cleared at Bayonet Point Hospital, Rosas was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault, one aggravated battery and one domestic battery. He is in the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of a $17,500 bond. In his booking photo, Rosas' left eye is swollen and starting to blacken.

* * *

The third, and final, story involves revenge, and the backfiring thereof.

Carrie Netopski, a 35-year-old tall, thin green-eyed blonde with a fairy tattoo on her back, was very upset with her drug dealer, according to the authorities.

She was supposed to get narcotics - and later told the cops she had paid $50 for them - but the guy never gave them to her. So she went to his New Port Richey residence and broke three of the front windows, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.

Windows broken, she successfully made her escape.

Then a deputy contacted her.

It turns out that in her smashing spree, Netopski dropped her driver's license on the ground. Deputies found it and, subsequently, found her. When told of her license being left at the scene, Netopski told the deputy, "I can't believe I was so stupid."

She was arrested on a charge of criminal mischief and is in the Land O'Lakes jail on a $500 bond.

Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@sptimes.com or 813 909-4609.

[Last modified March 22, 2007, 00:03:46]