A 19-year-old stole a car in Seminole and led deputies on a chase before being caught hiding in some bushes in Tampa on Thursday evening, police said.

Terrence Smith, 19, of Orlando was booked into the Orient Road Jail in Tampa on charges of auto theft and fleeing police.

The incident started about 5:45 p.m. at Guaranteed Auto Sales, a used-car lot at 10201 Seminole Blvd. in Seminole. A young man jumped into a Ford Mustang that had just been brought in and still had the keys in the ignition, police said.

Pinellas County sheriff's deputies chased the Mustang on Ulmerton Road but lost it. The car was soon found near the Tampa end of the Howard Frankland Bridge. It had been abandoned at the intersection of Azeele and Sherill streets. A Tampa police K-9 officer found Smith a block and a half away, police said.

Citrus grand jury indicts son in mother's killing

INVERNESS -- A Citrus County grand jury on Thursday indicted James Henry Utsey on a first-degree murder charge in the Dec. 27 shooting of his mother outside a DeRosa convenience store.

A prosecutor also confirmed that store video is among the evidence that investigators have amassed against Utsey.

Utsey, 30, also was formally charged with a felony count of fleeing law enforcement after his van was seen by a Citrus County deputy after the shooting.

The murder charge means Utsey faces at least life in prison if convicted in the death of his mother, Barbara, 64, a Crystal River community activist.

Owners of parody Web site won’t face state charges

Prosecutors have decided not to press charges against owners of a Web site that parodied Springstead High School in Hernando County and contained altered photos of school officials in sex acts and derogatory descriptions of teachers.

Although tasteless, the site did not violate state computer or obscenity laws, Assistant State Attorney Bill Catto said.

"We have determined that there is no criminal wrongdoing involved," Catto said Thursday. "Naturally, that doesn't express an opinion one way or the other on the multitude of issues that may exist."

Still under investigation is whether owners of the site violated federal laws by making what school officials labeled an extortion attempt. Likewise, Catto said, the matter still could be pursued in civil court.

Partner’s doubt wins officer an acquittal

TAMPA -- On the stand, Tampa police officer Gina Bennett remembered much of what happened during a police chase on July 1, 1999.

But when it came time to testify about the critical moment, Bennett was just not sure. She could not say positively that a car had not backed into the police cruiser driven by her partner and best friend, Officer Melodie Delgado.

"I can't say the car didn't back up," Bennett said.

With that moment of doubt, the case against Delgado, a 10-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department, crumbled. Before the case went to a jury Thursday, Circuit Judge Daniel Perry threw out the charges that Delgado falsified a police report about the crash. The judge granted Delgado a judgment of acquittal.

"I'm glad the truth finally came out," Delgado said afterward. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Delgado, who had been fired by the Police Department, said she would ask for her job back and fight for back pay.

The charges against Delgado affected a murder case in which Delgado had been one of the state's key witnesses. With Delgado's credibility in question, the state offered the defendant a manslaughter plea, and he walked out of jail after 18 months.

Last year, a jury deadlocked after hearing the evidence against Delgado. Prosecutors said she falsified a police report about the crash in 1999 to avoid being punished. Delgado had been reprimanded before for a crash in 1997 and was cleared of wrongdoing in a fatal car wreck in 1998.

Customs tipped to huge pot shipment; six arrested

TAMPA -- Six men were arrested Thursday after authorities said they watched them unload about 4,000 pounds of marijuana from a boat docked near the Courtney Campbell Parkway.

Authorities said Clement Bishop, Gordon Fitzpatrick, Richard Walkes, Nathaniel Stevens, Alexander Garay and Frank Davis pretended to be fishing late Wednesday night as they waited for a boat to dock near a closed restaurant.

When the boat arrived, they unloaded 106 bales of marijuana into a Ryder truck, officials said. Federal customs officials said they had been tipped by authorities in the Cayman Islands that a large shipment of marijuana originally from Jamaica was on its way to Tampa.

The officials, with help from local law enforcement, set up surveillance and arrested the men after they loaded the truck.

13-year-old boy killed crossing street

TAMPA -- An unidentified 13-year-old boy was struck and killed Thursday night by a motorist on Bearss Avenue near North Boulevard.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder said the youth was trying to cross to the north side of Bearss by Buchanan Junior High School about 7:30 p.m. when a Ford Ranger struck him in the eastbound lane. The boy lived in the neighborhood, Reder said.

Car theft, chase ends with man’s arrest

An Orlando man stole a car in Seminole and led police on a car chase before being caught hiding in some bushes in Tampa on Thursday evening, police said.

Terrence Smith, 19, was booked into the Orient Road Jail in Tampa on charges of auto theft and fleeing from police.

The incident started about 5:45 p.m. at Guaranteed Auto Sales, a used car lot at 10201 Seminole Blvd., when a youth jumped into a Ford Mustang that had the keys in the ignition. Pinellas County sheriff's deputies chased the Mustang on Ulmerton Road but lost it. The car was soon found abandoned near the Tampa end of the Howard Frankland Bridge, at the intersection of Azeele and Sherill streets. A Tampa police K9 officer found Smith a block and half away.

Gulf War veteran guilty of killing four people

SHALIMAR -- A Persian Gulf War veteran was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder Thursday in the shotgun deaths of his girlfriend and her children.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, a former Army Ranger, was found guilty after more than two hours of deliberation in the nine-day trial. He could receive a death sentence.

Renee Flaherty and her children, Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4, were killed on Sept. 11, 1998, in the Crestview area home where they lived with Hutchinson.

The prosecution said the killings were prompted by an argument between Hutchinson and Flaherty. Hutchinson had rejected his lawyers' advice to present an insanity defense, insisting that two men wearing ski masks broke into the house and killed the victims.

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