Digest

Crime journal

By TIMES STAFF
Published October 13, 2007

TAMPA

Car on Sheldon Road badly injures woman

A woman was taken to St. Joesph's Hospital in critical condition Friday after being hit by a car at Sheldon Road near Hillsborough Avenue.

Sherry Ann Seenath, 38, of 6202 Sheldon Road, was crossing Sheldon Road when was hit by a 2001 Hyundai, said Debbie Carter, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

The driver, 44-year-old Karen Sanuw of 8325 Bay Point Drive, told authorities that Seenath stepped out in front of her car in front of the Camden island Apartments as she was traveling southbound on Sheldon, Carter said. The incident is still under investigation; Sanuw has not been charged.

HUDSON

Woman, 2-year-old struck by vehicle

A vehicle struck a woman and her 2-year-old in Hudson late Friday, leaving the child seriously injured.

Officers from the Florida Highway Patrol and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene at the intersection of Hicks Road and Dan Street and found the woman conscious, but the child suffered severe, unspecified injuries, police said.

Bayflite airlifted the child for treatment.

The mother and child were pedestrians struck by a motor vehicle about 8:53 p.m. Details about the accident and the identities of the victims were not available late Friday.

TAMPA 

False report turns against woman

Christy Ayala wanted deputies to believe she'd been raped by an older relative.

But they didn't.

Now Ayala is the one behind bars, accused of three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a 15-year-old boy.

According to Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter, Ayala, 22, went to the District 3 headquarters at 7202 Gunn Highway on Sept. 29 to tell deputies she'd been sexually assaulted by an older male relative.

In the course of the investigation, detectives determined her statements were false, Carter said, and learned of allegations that she'd been involved with a 15-year-old boy.

Carter said Ayala admitted her claims against the relative weren't true.

Detectives said that between February and September, Ayala and the 15-year-old met three times at his home, where she fondled, kissed and hugged the boy and asked him to touch her in inappropriate places.

Ayala was held at Orient Road jail on $23,000 bail.

[Last modified October 13, 2007, 00:23:38]