Digest

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 26, 2007

TAMPA

Toddler suffers burns on legs from hot water

A 1-year-old boy suffered first- and second-degree burns on his legs after he stepped into a bathtub filled with hot water Tuesday morning. Tampa Fire and Rescue paramedics treated the boy in his East Tampa home and drove him to Tampa General Hospital. The boy's caregiver told authorities that she was running hot water to warm a bath when she looked away, and the boy stepped in before the bath was ready, Tampa Fire Rescue officials said. Tampa police are investigating. There was no additional information late Tuesday. Tampa fire officials urged parents and caregivers to prevent these type of injuries by setting household water heaters to no more than 125 degrees. Water at 120 degrees takes several minutes to cause a scalding injury. Water at 150 to 160 degrees will scald the skin in seconds, they said.

LARGO

Corrections officer faces drug charges

Authorities on Tuesday arrested a correctional officer on charges that he sold drugs to inmates at the Largo Road Prison, a state-run minimum security facility at 5201 Ulmerton Road. Kevin Rix, 24, hired as a correctional officer in 2005, was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on charges of unlawful compensation, introducing contraband into a prison system and trafficking in cocaine. His arrest comes after a three-month undercover investigation. "We are determined not to have the integrity of the department undermined by this sort of individual,"Corrections Department Secretary James R. McDonough said in a statement.

BROOKSVILLE

Three accused of beating, robbery

Hernando County authorities have arrested three people in the armed robbery of 48-year-old John Kelly, known to Hernando motorists as "the walker." Michael Raymond Vann, 23, and two 17-year-olds, Jamie Lynn Tyson and Anthony Steven Hawkins, were all arrested in the robbery and savage beating of the gray-bearded Kelly last Wednesday night on Cortez Boulevard, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. A fourth person, unnamed and listed as a co-defendant in police reports, had not been arrested by Tuesday evening. Both Vann and Tyson have been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery, among other charges. Hawkins faces charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and tampering with evidence.

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 23:58:24]