TAMPA -- Janet Reno, the country's top prosecutor, stopped by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa on Tuesday to say goodbye and thank the staff for their work during her tenure.

Reno, U.S. attorney general since President Clinton appointed her in 1993, is on the way out now that President-elect George W. Bush has nominated as her replacement former Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft. Congress still must confirm Ashcroft's nomination, but either way Reno is out of the job.

Reno, a Miami native, arrived at the office about 10 a.m. and spent an hour shaking hands and patting backs. She thanked the staff in a speech and met with each staffer individually, many posing for photos with their boss.

It was part pep talk, part goodbye, said office spokesman Steve Cole. "She went out of her way to make sure she said a few words to everyone."

Defendant apologizes, says he'll repay $25,000

LARGO -- Charles Bagley admitted Tuesday that he swindled a confused 82-year-old Indian Shores man out of almost $25,000, but apologized for hurting the victim, whom he said he considered a friend.

Bagley, 51, of Graceville pleaded guilty to one count of exploitation of the elderly.

While deciding whether he wanted to proceed to trial, Bagley told Judge Horace Andrews he wanted to get a job and return the money to the victim.

"I apologize to the court and his family," he said. Bagley will face up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 18 in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court.

Man charged in deadly Christmas wreck

TAMPA -- A Tampa man was charged Tuesday with driving under the influence in a Christmas Day accident that killed one man and left a woman seriously injured.

John Kulac, 31, was charged with one count of DUI manslaughter, one count of DUI with serious bodily harm and one count of DUI resulting in property damage in a single-car crash at Lake Ellen Drive and Lake Carroll Drive.

Hillsborough sheriff's officials said Kulac, the driver of a 1994 Honda that left the road on Lake Ellen Drive and struck an oak tree, was driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.142, well above the 0.08 level at which the law presumes a person to be impaired.

Gary A. Zaccaria, 30, died at the scene. Lynette Harris was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in serious condition and released Jan. 1.

Officer called suspect in robbery on paid leave

ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg police officer remained on paid administrative leave Tuesday and was not under arrest, three days after Gulfport police had labeled him a suspect in an attempted robbery.

Although evidence in the case points to St. Petersburg police Officer Antonio Terrell Garner, detectives do not have a positive visual identification of Garner, said Gulfport police Lt. Larry Tosi Jr.

Detectives also have found nothing to discredit 36-year-old Christopher Croley's account that a man with Garner's general build had pointed a handgun at him in the parking lot of a Gulfport apartment complex at 6:45 a.m. Saturday, demanding that he give up all his money.

Croley said he was able to escape without handing over money, and followed the assailant's white Ford Bronco long enough to get the vehicle's license plate number.

Officers found the vehicle at Garner's St. Petersburg home Saturday.

New principals to head 8 schools

The Hillsborough County School Board appointed eight new principals Tuesday, five of them for new schools and three to fill the offices of retiring principals.

The new principals are Tom Dessy at Chiles Elementary in New Tampa; Jeffrey Eakins at Cypress Creek Elementary in Ruskin. He replaces retiring principal Joseph Green; Lisa Yost at McKitrick Elementary in Lutz; Joann Redden at Oak Grove Elementary in west Tampa; Ellen Jennings at Ruskin Elementary. She replaces retiring principal Mary Libroth; Susan Marohnic at Symmes Elementary in south Brandon; Sandy Bunkin at Alonso High School in Town 'N Country; and Robert Heilmann at Riverview High School. He replaces retiring principal Vince Thompson.

The board also voted to name the football stadium at Riverview after Thompson.

Fatal wreck brings DUI-manslaughter charge

TAMPA -- A Tampa man was charged Tuesday with driving under the influence in a Christmas Day accident that killed one man and left a woman seriously injured.

John Kulac, 31, was charged with one count of DUI-manslaughter, one count of DUI with serious bodily harm and one count of DUI resulting in property damage for a single-car crash at Lake Ellen Drive and Lake Carroll Drive.

Hillsborough sheriff's officials said Kulac, the driver of a 1994 Honda that left the road on Lake Ellen Drive and struck an oak tree, was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.142. The law presumes intoxication at 0.08.

Gary A. Zaccaria, 30, died at the scene. Lynette Harris was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in serious condition and released Jan. 1.

All three lived at 12195 Armenia Gables Circle in Tampa.

Electrocuted man's family files suit

CLEARWATER -- The family of a Palm Harbor man electrocuted in 1999 while working on a neon sign outside his Largo restaurant is suing the company that owns the Largo property on which the business sits.

Peter Kanellos, 55, was hooking two wires together on Sept. 17, 1999, at Three Coins Restaurant, 1700 Missouri Ave. S, when he was jolted with electricity, Pinellas County sheriff's officials said. He was pronounced dead at Morton Plant Hospital.

Louis Kardassis, who owns the property on Missouri Avenue since 1982, said he was not aware of the lawsuit filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court. His company, Three Coins Inc., purchased the restaurant from the Kanellos family in June.

The suit was filed by Kanellos' widow, Anastasia, on behalf of her and two of his children, Georgia and Elia. It says the company should have maintained the area in a safe way and warned others of any hazardous conditions.

Defendant in DUI case skips trial

NEW PORT RICHEY -- At 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, the judge took his seat behind the bench. The lawyers reviewed notes for their opening statements.

The jury, chosen the day before, waited in the next room. The witnesses made small talk in the hallway.

The trial of Melanie Bowie, charged with misdemeanor DUI in a 1998 incident that left a pedestrian dead, was set to begin.

Then, at 9 a.m., Bowie's defense attorney stood up.

"I don't know where she is," Greg "Skip" Olney told Pasco County Judge William Sestak. "I spoke to her last night. I expected her here at 8 a.m."

Sestak agreed to give Bowie 30 more minutes to make it to court, and then, when she didn't show, the judge signed a warrant for her arrest.

Now, in addition to DUI, she also faces a misdemeanor failure-to-appear charge.

In November, the St. Petersburg Times revealed that Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Danny Bowers, the first officer on the scene of the crash, had a personal relationship with Bowie during the first month of the investigation. The Patrol fired Bowers in December.

Man charged in slaying of migrant

DADE CITY -- Jonathan Dye Jones found himself in familiar territory Monday night: Back in jail, charged with murder.

Jones, 34, was accused of the 1993 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Kathryn Murphy. He was acquited of the charge after a controversial trial in 1994.

On Monday, Jones was arrested and charged with shooting migrant worker Florentino Cano, 47, four times Saturday at Cano's 36911 Thomas Jefferson Road mobile home on Dade City's west side.

in an affidavit Monday signed by Circuit Judge Maynard F. Swanson, Toya Hicks, 30, and the other witness, Heather Marie Price, 23, described an execution-style murder.

Jones was being held Tuesday without bail in the Land O'Lakes jail.

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