Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 23, 2001

Water desalination project gets new engineering firm

S&W Water, the principal contractor on the planned 25-million-gallon-a-day seawater desalination plant in southeast Hillsborough County, announced Monday it had selected Ogden Energy Group of Fairfield, N.J., as the new engineering firm on the project. Ogden replaces Stone & Webster, Inc., a Boston engineering company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last June. The announcement was made at the monthly meeting of Tampa Bay Water, the regional water utility.

In other action, Tampa Bay Water elected Pasco County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand as its next chair. Hildebrand replaces St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer, who is stepping down in April. Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart will serve as vice-chair.

Opening remarks made in trial of church leaders

TAMPA -- Prosecutors called the program organized by Greater Ministries International church elders a classic Ponzi scheme set up to scam money from investors.

Defense attorneys countered that the money was donations from parishioners willing to open their pocketbooks to support their church and God. There was no guarantee of a financial return, they said.

So went opening statements Monday in the trial of Greater Ministries president Gerald Payne, his wife, Betty, and fellow church leaders Patrick Talbert, Howard Eudon Hall and David Whitfield.

They face 17 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Gerald Payne also faces additional charges of purposefully evading federal financial transaction requirements.

Two other elders indicted in 1999 since have pleaded guilty, admitted that the program was a scam and agreed to help prosecutors.

Police are looking for man in kidnapping

TAMPA -- Police on Monday were looking for an Auburndale man who they say tracked his former girlfriend to Tampa, broke into her home and kidnapped the couple's two children.

The incident happened Monday at 8 a.m. at a house at 2603 N 18th Street. Tampa police said 22-year-old Rose Hernandez and her children, ages 2 and 5, moved to the home about a week ago from Auburndale after allegations of domestic violence against the children's father, 24-year-old Antonio Hernandez.

Hernandez demanded his former girlfriend let him into the home, police said, and threatened to harm himself with a box cutter. When she refused, he pulled a set of anti-burglar bars off a window and broke into the home.

Once inside, Hernandez took a box with the children's belongings before fleeing with the children in a black and grey 1985 Lincoln Continental, police said.

No one was injured.

Commission’s chair has emergency surgery

TAMPA -- Pat Frank, chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Commission, underwent an emergency appendectomy early Sunday after suffering a ruptured appendix, an aide said.

Frank, 71, was recuperating Monday at St. Joseph's Hospital. She is likely to miss commission functions for several days, said Martha Bingham, senior commissioner's aide.

"Other than just having her appendix removed, she's in excellent condition," Bingham said.

Police seeking tips on armed robber at ATM

ST. PETERSBURG -- Detectives are asking for help to find a man who robbed a woman of $500 at a Bank of America automatic teller machine.

At 9:14 p.m. Jan. 13, the woman was approached as she sat in her car at 2800 54th Ave. S, police said. At gunpoint, the suspect forced the woman to the passenger side and asked her to withdraw money. The suspect, believed to be 25 years old, drove away with the victim and later ran away. Police recovered the photograph of the suspect from bank surveillance video.

Anyone with information is asked to call St. Petersburg detective Billy Crews, (727) 893-7266.

Man hospitalized after being shot in the back

ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg man was shot in the back early Monday morning and taken to a hospital by a stranger who then disappeared, police said.

Willie J. Cameron, 44, told police he left a friend at Fifth Avenue S near 32nd Street S about 3 a.m. He was then walking in an alley behind a convenience store at Fifth Avenue S and 31st Street when he heard two gunshots. Cameron said he felt pain in his lower back and realized he had been shot.

He said he saw no one in the area except a man sitting in a car. The man, whom Cameron said he did not know, told Cameron he did not see the shooting. The man then gave Cameron a ride to the hospital, police said.

At the hospital, a security guard told police he rolled Cameron inside in a wheelchair. When the guard went back outside, the man and his car were gone.

Cameron was listed in fair condition Monday at Bayfront Medical Center.

Largo man in car fire regains consciousness

A Largo man critically injured in a Jan. 12 car fire regained consciousness late last week at a Gainesville hospital.

Gary Wisemandle, 45, who suffered severe smoke inhalation after a car he was inside caught fire in the parking lot of Largo Middle School, was found in the front seat by firefighters. The fire, which originated in the engine, has been ruled accidental.

It still is unknown why Wisemandle did not escape the car after it caught fire. Police investigators hope to interview him after he is released from Shands at the University of Florida, where he was transferred after being taken first to Bayfront Medical Center.

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