Digest

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 30, 2007

SEFFNER

Drowned baby's mother charged in his death

The day her 9-month-old son was found unconscious floating in a bathtub, Katrina Brooks told deputies she had left him unattended for just a few minutes. But authorities said Wednesday that young Gene Vincent Kent sat in an overflowing tub for more than 25 minutes while his mother tried to buy marijuana. He died days later after he was taken off life support. "During the course of the investigation, things didn't match up," Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Brooks, 20, was jailed Tuesday night on a charge of aggravated manslaughter. Those who know her painted a tale of a woman who had spiraled into depression after her boyfriend left her with two kids and no income. She remained in jail Wednesday without bail.

PORT RICHEY

Bomb threats clear 3 county buildings

Three different bomb threats were reported within a 20-minute span to three county government facilities in central and west Pasco - including the courthouse and 911 communications center. All were evacuated, searched and cleared. Employees and residents started streaming outside about 1 p.m. to stand in a sweltering 95 degrees for more than an hour. It wasn't until about 2:30 p.m. when they started filing back into the David "Hap" Clark Jr. Building off U.S. 41 in Land O'Lakes and the West Pasco Judicial Center and the Emergency Operations Center in New Port Richey. A sheriff's spokesman said 911 service was not disrupted.

DADE CITY

Cop killer's cousin pleads guilty

Nathaniel Vanzant, cousin of convicted cop killer Alfredie Steele Jr., pleaded in court Wednesday to drug and driving charges. Vanzant, 27, was arrested in June on U.S. 301. Authorities said he had a handgun in his pickup and a bag with marijuana, and that he gave a fake name to deputies. On Wednesday, Vanzant pleaded no contest to driving on a suspended license, possession of marijuana and giving a false name to law enforcement. Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa sentenced him to two years of probation. Vanzant recorded Steele confessing to the shooting of sheriff's Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison in June 2003.

[Last modified August 29, 2007, 23:22:56]