Digest

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 10, 2007

TAMPA

Two roommates injured when robbers invade

Two roommates were hospitalized after they were pistol-whipped at their apartment late Monday. Cory Martinez, 20, was walking into his apartment in the 8900 block of Citrus Village Drive around 11:40 p.m. when he was approached by four men who bashed a revolver into the back of his head and forced him inside, Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in a statement. The men then struck Martinez's roommate, 19-year-old Kyle Blank, in the back of the head with a semiautomatic pistol. An 18-year-old woman staying at the apartment looked on as the attackers continued their assault while demanding drugs and money. Carter said deputies found neither inside the apartment. The four attackers left with a laptop computer and cell phone. Martinez and Blank were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital. Investigators said all four attackers are men in their 20s. The investigation is ongoing.

CLEARWATER

Better technology leads to arrest

The case had grown cold for more than 13 years, but improved DNA technology provided the crucial break that enabled investigators to arrest a suspected rapist Tuesday. David Allen Ginther, 37, of the Clearwater area, faces one count of armed sexual battery related to a 1994 case in Lealman. According to detectives, on June, 15, 1994, Ginther entered through an unlocked bedroom window and found the victim, a 26-year-old woman, asleep. He put a metal object to her throat, threatened to kill her and then blindfolded her, detectives said. He sexually battered her for an hour before leaving. Investigators recovered DNA evidence, but couldn't find a match, sheriff's officials said. Detectives resubmitted the evidence for testing in May 2007 and, with improved technology, the test pointed to Ginther, they said. He was being booked in the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday.

DADE CITY

Zephyrhills man accused of theft

Dade City police detectives arrested William Michael Stephens, 44, of Zephyrhills on Tuesday and charged him with two counts of burglary and three counts of grand theft. Police say that during the first week of October, Stephens, along with other people who have not been identified, broke into the city of Dade City equipment yard on 10th Street on four separate occasions. Once inside, police say the thieves took lumber being stored at the yard by Sunbelt Construction, along with a trailer belonging to D.A.B. Construction. The total value of the stolen wood was $14,700 and the value of the stolen trailer was $5,000.

Man dies as car plows into home

A 20-year-old Dade City man died Saturday after he drove a car into a mobile home on Lynan Farms Drive, west of the city. Alan Carter was driving north on Kent Bradley Street and didn't make the turn onto Lynan Farms Drive. He drove through a fence and into the mobile home's living room, causing at least $25,000 of damage to the home, according to Dade City police. Carter died at the scene. No one in the home was injured, according to police.

[Last modified October 9, 2007, 23:58:08]