Tampabay: Tarpon man again is arrested

One of three men acquitted last year in a so-called road rage beating was charged last month with felony battery in connection with a fight in Ybor City last May.

Christopher Stamas, 20, of Tarpon Springs was charged with kicking a Seminole man in the head, knocking out his tooth and grabbing the man's fiancee by the arm hard enough to bruise it, according to an arrest affidavit.

Stamas' attorney Denis de Vlaming says it is a case of mistaken identity. While Stamas was there, he was not involved in the altercation, de Vlaming said. De Vlaming said he has six witnesses to back that up, including a man who was involved in the fray, but he would not identify them Tuesday.

De Vlaming hopes to bring his witnesses to speak with prosecutors next week, including the person he said was directly involved in the altercation.

"We're in the process of clearing this up," he said.

On Dec. 21, the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office charged Stamas with one count of felony battery on James M. Hanna, 37, and one count of misdemeanor battery on Karen M. Wheeler, 37. Stamas turned himself in at the county jail Friday. He was released two hours later after posting $2,500 bail.

De Vlaming said the 3:15 a.m. incident last May 14 unfolded after Stamas walked up to Wheeler, who was waiting for a parking valet and began talking to her. Hanna apparently took issue, de Vlaming said, and told Stamas to go away.

Stamas walked away, de Vlaming said, and a physical altercation ensued between a second man and Hanna. De Vlaming contends Stamas was later picked out of a photo lineup simply because he was there.

Hanna and Wheeler declined to discuss the Ybor City incident in detail without speaking with prosecutors, but both said de Vlaming's account is wrong.

"That is not what happened," Wheeler said Tuesday. "It is not a matter of someone talking to me and my fiance getting upset."

According to the arrest affidavit, Hanna was "provoked into a verbal confrontation" with a group of men. Hanna was then struck by one of the men and he fell to the ground. The men then repeatedly hit and kicked Hanna, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that Wheeler saw Stamas kick her fiance in his head, causing him to lose a tooth. On Tuesday, Wheeler said that's exactly what happened and that it is "absolutely not" a case of mistaken identity.

Wheeler also told Tampa police she tried to protect her fiance by shielding his body, the affidavit states. When she knelt over top of him, the report states, Stamas grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away, causing bruises to her upper arm.

Stamas, who is related to the owners of Stamas Yachts in Tarpon Springs, was one of thee men charged in a high-profile March 1999 road rage case. Stamas and Theofilos Mamouzelos were accused of beating Jody Daniel and Luis Collado with shovels, cracking their skulls and leaving them badly injured.

Daniel and Collado said the attack was unprovoked. The defendants told jurors they lashed out with shovels in self-defense.

In March, a jury acquitted Mamouzelos and Stamas of attempted second-degree murder charges. A judge had already acquitted a third defendant in the case, Michael Saroukos, of attempted second-degree murder. A civil lawsuit filed by Daniel and Collado against the three men is pending.

Anthony Tamargo, Collado's cousin and family spokesman, said he was not surprised by the latest charges against Stamas.

"I've been waiting for this, and my cousin has too," said Tamargo.

He said his cousin can't drive and still has seizures.

"They get rich-man justice, and I'd hate to see it happen again," Tamargo said. "Let's hope to God this time he (Stamas) pays for what he did. If he's guilty, he needs to pay."

De Vlaming said it's inevitable that some will see the latest charges and say, "See, we warned something like this would happen."

But, de Vlaming said, "His role there has been misinterpreted."

- Staff writers David Karp and Edie Gross contributed to this report.

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