Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff writers

Revised July 13, 2001

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 19, 2001

Swingers' club owner to be tried again

TAMPA -- Prosecutors plan to retry John Melfi, the operator of the swingers club called Taboo Tampa, on charges he violated the city's adult use ordinance.

A jury could not reach a verdict Friday during Melfi's trial on the misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors said Melfi's club in a house in Old Seminole Heights operated as an adult business without a permit by charging people to enter the club to socialize with swingers and exchange partners.

A second trial on the charges is set for July 23.

Police arrest two brothers after bank branch robbery

TAMPA -- Two unemployed brothers with a history of minor arrests were caught Monday afternoon 10 minutes after they robbed a bank, said a Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman.

David Michael Sanchez, 50, approached the teller of a Republic Security Bank branch in the Kash n' Karry grocery store on N Florida Avenue and handed her a note demanding money, said spokesman Lt. Rod Reder. The teller complied, and Sanchez left, Reder said.

Witnesses said they saw him get into a fairly distinctive older-model Ford Fairmont station wagon.

Deputies said his brother, 49-year-old Steven Alan Sanchez, was behind the wheel.

Shortly after 2 p.m., an alert went out on the station wagon. Minutes later, Deputy Harry Dean Bradley saw the car at Nebraska and Fletcher avenues, Reder said.

He pulled the Sanchez brothers over and arrested them, reports show.

The Sanchez brothers, who live together in an apartment at 14314 Dake Lane, are being held in lieu of $25,000 bail in Hillsborough County jail.

Man survives fall after failed suicide attempt

TAMPA -- An 18-year-old man tried to commit suicide Monday night by jumping off the center span of the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay, officials said.

The bridge, which is 60 feet above the bay at its highest point, wasn't high enough to kill the man, who was slightly injured in the fall.

In 1998, another man succeeded in a suicide jump from the Howard Frankland. Many more suicide attempts occur on the 200-foot-high Sunshine Skyway bridge.

Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the agency in charge of the Florida Marine Patrol, said two Tampa police officers tried to talk the young man down from the bridge, but he jumped shortly after 6 p.m.

A Tampa police helicopter hovered overhead as Florida Marine Patrol officer Mary Sumner raced to the scene by boat.

"She threw him the life ring, but he refused it," Morse said. "She threw it three more times, and finally convinced him to take it the last time and get in the boat with her. ... She did a great job."

The man was taken to Tampa General Hospital with minor injuries. The Times is not releasing the man's name. His condition was kept private Monday night.

Hillsborough okays fireworks' sale, use

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County plans to allow the sale and use of fireworks this Fourth of July, citing significantly higher soil moisture levels than last year, when officials imposed a brief ban.

"There is no emergency," said Tampa Fire-Rescue Captain Bill Wade. "We're still in a drought, but are things so dry that fireworks present an immediate danger? Apparently not."

The county's Emergency Policy Group, which includes local government and public safety officials, voted last week not to impose a ban. The group speaks for the cities of Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace and unincorporated areas.

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