Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2008

FORT MYERS

Citrus robbery suspect caught IN lee County

A suspect in a Citrus County bank robbery was caught near Fort Myers the same day the SunTrust Bank in the town of Hernando was robbed, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. Lee County deputies arrested Joshua Andrew McKie, 22, on Tuesday evening and recovered some of the stolen money, authorities said. A man claiming to have a gun robbed the SunTrust at about 9:15 Tuesday morning. A nearby school, Forest Ridge Elementary, went on lockdown. Deputies later identified the robber as McKie, who was most recently living in Hernando, and issued a warrant for his arrest. Citrus County investigators also learned that McKie planned to move to the Fort Myers area and tipped off Lee County authorities of where he might be. Deputies found him in that neighborhood, the Sheriff's Office said. Citrus County officials plan to move McKie back to the Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto on the charge of armed bank robbery.

CLEARWATER

Hearing delayed in Bollea case

A pretrial hearing for Nick Bollea was delayed Tuesday morning until Feb. 6. Bollea, the 17-year-old son of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, is accused of reckless driving with serious bodily injury stemming from an Aug. 26 crash that left a close friend, Iraq war veteran John Graziano, with a serious head injury. Graziano is at James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa. "Nick continues to focus on John's health, which is improving daily," said Bollea's attorney, Kevin Hayslett.

SPRING LAKE

Orlando man jailed in Boyett's robbery

Authorities have accused an Orlando man of being one of three robbers who hit Boyett's Grove and Citrus Attraction in April. Elijah Montgomery, 23, is accused of shooting owner Jim Oleson twice in the chest during the robbery. Two other suspects remain at large. Oleson, 59, spent several weeks in intensive care at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa fighting for his life. In December, Oleson and his wife, Kathy, picked Montgomery out of a lineup at the Orange County jail. Forensic tests by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement matched a pistol Montgomery dropped in an Orlando neighborhood to a shell casing recovered by Hernando sheriff's technicians at Boyett's Grove.

NEW PORT RICHEY

Pasco suspect faces federal indictment

Kenneth Wayne Benzo may not be Pasco County's problem anymore. The 48-year-old career criminal was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges of robbing two Pittsburgh banks. Those banks were robbed in November, according to the indictment. Local authorities accuse Benzo of robbing three west Pasco banks in six days in October. Defense attorney Geoffrey Cox filed a motion last week asking to be removed from the local criminal cases against Benzo, who is in federal custody in Pennsylvania, Cox said. "The defendant ... will likely not return to Florida until his federal charges are resolved AND any federal sentence he receives is served," Cox wrote in his motion, adding Benzo "may not return to Florida ever." Benzo can get up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the federal charges, according to Cox.

[Last modified January 22, 2008, 23:32:00]