Crime spanned dreadful and pathetic

By MOLLY MOORHEAD, Times Staff Writer
Published December 30, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Year in review Special report: So long, '07! Hello, '08! Bobby Lee Black III is accused of sexual battery, kidnapping and other charges. Jathniel McMichael faces a life sentence in the brutal attacks. Jessica Warren faces a first-degree murder charge. Andrew Michael Kobak was accused of holding a woman as a prostitute and sex slave. [Janel Schroeder-Norton | Times] An urn containing 4-year-old Zachary Greene's ashes and a locket baring his thumbprint were returned to his parents after their public plea for a burglar to give them back.

When a 66-year-old woman reported to authorities this spring that she'd been raped and robbed in the darkness of her Zephyrhills mobile home, the community and its large senior population bristled with fear.

Then, three weeks later, it happened again.

Authorities quickly caught up to the three young Zephyrhills men they say are responsible. Jathniel McMichael and Bobby Lee Black III, accused of sexual battery, kidnapping and other charges, face life sentences in the brutal attacks. A third man, Andre Brathwaite, was accused of drug and traffic offenses but not of a sex crime.

From east to west, Pasco County saw its usual share of crime, cruelty and wrongdoing in 2007. Among the more memorable: A mentally disturbed mother was accused of stabbing her toddler to death. A Land O'Lakes soccer dad died in a road rage incident. Authorities collared a Port Richey man who kept a sex slave. And one sad story ended on a bittersweet note.

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When New Port Richey police found the bloody, punctured body of a happy 2-year-old named Jeremiah in June, his mother, Jessica Warren, told them she stabbed her boy to fight off the demons. She had a history of suicidal tendencies and other mental problems, but friends said she doted on Jeremiah and found purpose in caring for him. She faces a first-degree murder charge.

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Eric Houk, a self-employed house painter, never worked on weekends because that was family time. He coached his two older sons' soccer teams and probably had similar visions for his new baby boy. But Houk's idyllic life ended suddenly on the drive home from the Daytona 500 with his brother in February. An argument in traffic led to gunfire, and three Jacksonville men were charged with murder in Houk's death. He was 36.

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The 10-page document, titled "Master Drew's Slavery Contract," outlined the terms under which a 19-year-old woman with mental problems agreed to live and work. Alyssandra Cardillo would cook and clean and do the laundry for Andrew Michael Kobak at his home in Port Richey. For $60 a pop, she also performed sex acts on eight different men before authorities caught onto the scheme. Kobak faces charges of deriving proceeds from prostitution, maintaining a place of prostitution, plus drug charges. Cardillo was charged with prostitution, but that was later dropped.

Molly Moorhead can be reached at moorhead@sptimes.com or 727 869-6245.

And the bittersweet:

Zachary Greene was 4 years old when he succumbed to cancer. His parents had him cremated and kept his ashes in a velvet box on the mantel of their New Port Richey home. A burglar ransacked the place in January, taking jewelry, electronics and guitars, as well as the box from the mantel. Zachary's parents, Eve and Steven, made a distraught plea in the newspaper, asking the thief to give them back their son's remains. The next day, the parents were walking through the yard with a detective when they noticed it: the velvet box and the shiny urn it contained. Police had it examined for fingerprints, then returned it to the Greenes.

[Last modified December 29, 2007, 19:53:02]