Woman accused of lewd behavior before girls at mental health site
By Times Staff Writers
Published January 9, 2008
LARGO - A residential aide at Pinellas Emergency Mental Health Services has been charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition in front of children under 16.
Marissa Rodriguez, 42, was accused of exposing herself twice to a group of juvenile girls at the facility, where she worked as a temporary employee.
The incidents happened Friday and again Sunday, according to an arrest affidavit.
In Friday's incident, Rodriguez showed a nipple piercing to several girls and "told them afterward not to tell any of the other staff," according to an arrest report.
On Sunday, Rodriguez confronted some of the patients because they had told staff members in a group session, and, in front of another staff member and juveniles, exposed her right breast, police said.
Police said they learned of the incidents when they went to the facility at 1614 Palm Way in Largo regarding an allegation of abuse. That complaint was found to be unfounded, but in the course of investigating it, they learned of the incidents involving Rodriguez, police said.
Rodriguez, of Gulfport, is being held in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.
Jonathan Abel, Times staff writer
SEMINOLE
Artist designs bus stop called 'Gimme Shelter'
In a first for Pinellas County, a bus shelter is scheduled to become an artistic statement.
The shelter in front of the Park Street Retail Center will look like a gazebo covered in palm fronds. The design, called Gimme Shelter, will be installed by summer after artist Mark Fuller fabricates it in his West Palm Beach studio.
Fuller's proposal beat out 39 other designs to win the project, which is jointly sponsored by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, the county's Cultural Affairs Department and Seminole. The Sembler Co., which developed the Park Street Retail Center, also participated.
If successful, the PSTA would like to expand the program to other bus shelters across the county.
Fuller also was chosen in 2003 to create the Track 2, #1-9 public art installations for the Pinellas County Arts Council. His nine colorful arcs of railroad-inspired community markers can be seen in locations along the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail.
On the west side of Park Street, just north of Target and Sears, the Park Street Retail Center is the home of Kohl's, with Ross, Total Wine, Famous Footwear and other stores expected to open by March.
Anne Lindberg, Times staff writer
PALM HARBOR
Victims of fire find community of 'angels'
In the days after a fire spread from a neighbor's condominium to his, destroying his home and displacing his family, Jim Chaboudy couldn't go five minutes without his cell phone ringing.
Neighbors called to offer food and shelter. Co-workers from the post office and his wife's school, Lake St. George Elementary, called, too.
Chaboudy, his wife, Linda, and their two school-aged daughters were among eight people burned out of their homes Jan. 2 when a massive fire tore through a cluster of buildings in the Townhomes of Westlake Village.
The two-alarm blaze did more than $1-million in damage, destroying four of six units and damaging a fifth. No one was hurt.
The Chaboudy family did not have insurance for the contents of the home. Chaboudy said the family - whose youngest daughter Heather, 11, had a heart transplant as an infant - had been going through financial problems recently and decided to cut its expenses by not purchasing the insurance.
The family's church, Clearwater Community Church, volunteered to help the family move any remaining possessions into temporary storage.
"We're optimistic," Chaboudy said. "God's been good to us, and he's sent a lot of angels to look after us."
To help, contact Clearwater Community Church administrator Barry Griffin at (727) 799-4444.
Jonathan Abel, Times staff writer
TARPON SPRINGS
Weather brings windfall for fishing buddies
Pete Tarajos went to the boat ramp on the Anclote River on Friday and watched a commercial fisherman pull in with about 400 pounds of fish.
As the fisherman left to sell his catch before prices dropped, Tarajos ran to fetch a friend and fellow snowbird, Bob Reimherr, and a boat.
By lunch, the men had filled a cooler with ladyfish, sometimes referred to as "poor man's tarpon."
"I kept telling him, 'I'll get one more in the cooler, one more in the cooler,'" Reimherr said. "Then I couldn't close the cooler."
Friday was a dream day for local fishermen as schools of sluggish fish filled the river near Progress Energy's power plant.
Anthony Cacciurri, a law enforcement officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the fish were lethargic because the water temperature had dipped below 60 degrees. The water temperature Friday was in the 50s, he said.
Fishermen took advantage of the unusual circumstances by filling their boats with ladyfish, using cast nets or simply scooping them up in pole nets. Ladyfish can fetch about $1 a pound. But Tarajos and Reimherr planned to use the ladyfish as bait for a more desirable meal.
"We're going to turn them into grouper," Tarajos said.
Tamara El-Khoury, Times staff writer