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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2001
LARGO -- A Clearwater man who police said supplied a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old with marijuana and then put them up for a night in a hotel was arrested Thursday night on misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The two boys, who live in Largo, told police they knew Robert Ewell Kelly, 33, of 512 Braginton St. No. 35, from the neighborhood. They said they had been at Kelly's home and played video games, said Lt. Michelle Smith of Largo Police. The 12-year-old told authorities he stole $283 from his mother using her ATM card and gave the money to Kelly to buy the drugs and cigarettes and pay for an overnight stay at the Belleair Village Motel on April 16.
Authorities say Kelly gave the youths a quarter bag of marijuana, smoked some of it with them and left the motel. The boys, both of whom had been reported missing, spent the night alone in the motel, Smith said. Motel manager Raksha Jani said she wasn't aware Kelly was there with the two boys. "I did not see any kids there," Jani said. "We don't allow anything like that here."