Digest

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 8, 2007

TAMPA

Judge orders 3 students held for three weeks

A Hillsborough judge Friday ordered three Freedom High School students accused of discussing a plan to blow up the school held in a secure facility for three weeks. The students, ages 15, 16 and 17, are charged with threatening to discharge a destructive device on school property and disrupting a school function. Their attorneys told Senior Judge Perry Little that the boys had no previous trouble with the law and should be released to their parents. But the judge determined that the teens should go to a secure detention facility for 21 days. Authorities say the teens talked about a plan to blow up the school by igniting gas from Bunsen burners in a science lab. School officials say the plan was unlikely to work, but the students' remarks were enough for authorities to charge them with felonies. Charged are John Doan, 17, Mark Stapleton, 16, and a 15-year-old whose name is being withheld because of his age.

6th suspect jailed in mortgage scam

State and federal investigators arrested a sixth suspect Friday in a mortgage and home improvement scheme that defrauded dozens of Tampa Bay homeowners. Bradford C. Peck was arrested in Orlando after an almost two-month search. He is charged with racketeering and grand theft and is being held on a $600,000 bond, according to Hillsborough consumer protection investigators. Peck is accused of conspiring with five other suspects to defraud homeowners by soliciting them for home improvement projects and obtaining fraudulent loans on their personal properties.

Two men arrested in cocaine case

Hillsborough sheriff's deputies and U.S. customs agents have arrested two men for their part in a cocaine ring. Francisco Hernandez, 25, and Humberto Hernandez-Gomez, 20, both of 1213 E 140th Ave., were arrested Thursday after investigators seized one kilogram of cocaine from their North Tampa apartment. Authorities estimated the cocaine's value at $50,000. Hernandez was charged with trafficking in cocaine and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. Hernandez-Gomez was charged with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and two counts of trafficking in cocaine.

CLEARWATER

School locked down during police search

A Clearwater middle school was closed Friday afternoon after two men were spotted stealing rims from a car at Gulf to Bay and Highland Avenue. Kennedy Middle School, 1660 Palmetto St., was locked down from 2:20 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. while Clearwater police searched for the two men. One suspect was apprehended Friday afternoon.

PORT RICHEY

Fleeing a pursuer, robber kills himself

A man who robbed a Colonial Bank fired a sawed shotgun at a car that chased him and then shot himself dead, the Pasco Sheriff's Office said. A black Nissan chased the robbery suspect into the parking lot of nearby Gulf View Square. It was outside the north entrance of Dillard's that the man's bike ended up on the curb near the Nissan's front tires. The robbery suspect ran up to the mall and fired the shots.

[Last modified September 8, 2007, 00:32:15]