Brushfire burns 60 acres in New Port Richey

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

NEW PORT RICHEY -- A brushfire burned almost 60 acres north of the Starkey Wilderness Park on Thursday before Department of Forestry firefighters could contain the blaze.

The fire, which broke out about 10:30 a.m., never neared any of the subdivisions adjacent to the park, but did claim one tractor unit owned by the Forestry Department. A firefighter was in the tractor when it ignited, but "He ran pretty fast and got the hell out of there," said Department of Forestry duty Officer Lane Shepherd.

It took 10 firefighters, four trucks and two large helicopters to contain the blaze, which was still burning late Thursday.

SouthTrust Bank robbed in Bayonet Point

BAYONET POINT -- A lone robber walked into the SouthTrust Bank on State Road 52 at lunchtime Thursday, handed a note to a teller, took an undisclosed amount of cash and got into a getaway car waiting in the parking lot.

Deputies said the man was unarmed and that no one was harmed. Ground and air searches in the immediate area were unsuccessful.

Sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers said the robbery was probably unrelated to two other bank robberies in Port Richey and Holiday on Tuesday, but that it was "too early to tell."

The suspect was described as a white man in his 20s, about 5 feet 5 and 140 pounds, wearing jeans, a white T-shirt and a blue baseball cap. The driver of the car, which was a white new-model Oldsmobile or Buick, said deputies, was an older white man, possibly in his 30s or 40s, wearing a blue T-shirt.

Maintenance worker charged with molestation

NEW PORT RICHEY -- A maintenance man at a New Port Richey apartment complex was charged on Wednesday with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12.

A 9-year-old boy, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the case, told deputies he went into a vacant apartment in the Seven Springs complex at 7541 Highwater Drive around 10 a.m. Wednesday. The boy lives in the Seven Springs complex.

The maintenance worker, 56-year-old Joseph Manaseri of 4941 Rosedale Lane in Holiday, was in the apartment, the boy said. The boy said Manaseri put his hand down the boy's pants and fondled him.

Manaseri told deputies he was wrestling with the boy, then said he and the boy were "just fooling around."

Manaseri was released from Land O'Lakes jail Thursday after posting $10,000 bail.

Gunman steals telephone from Port Richey house

PORT RICHEY -- A gun-wielding man entered a Port Richey house, stole a cordless phone, rifled through several shoe boxes and fled Wednesday.

Jacob Hollingsworth, 21, told deputies he was on the phone with his girlfriend when he heard a knock. When he opened the door, he said, a man pointed a gun at his head. Hollingsworth said he dropped the phone and ran out of the house through the garage, leaving the door open.

A few minutes later, he saw three people running north from his house, at 9414 Whitman Drive. When he returned, he could not find his phone. He also said someone had gone through several shoe boxes in his bedroom, "as if he were looking for something," according to a deputy's report.

New Port Richey man charged with battery

NEW PORT RICHEY -- A 23-year-old man was charged with domestic aggravated battery after pushing his live-in girlfriend, who is six months pregnant with his child.

According to New Port Richey deputies, Dennis Ward was fighting with Gena Carpenter on Wednesday when he grabbed her left arm and pushed her over the edge of a tub in their house, at 5707 Tennessee Ave. Carpenter fell into the tub.

When deputies arrived, Carpenter had a four-inch bruise on her left arm.

Ward was being held Thursday at the Land O'Lakes jail on $5,000 bail.

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