Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2001

Two Pinellas agencies to merge, fight child abuse

ST. PETERSBURG -- Two Pinellas County agencies that work in the area of child abuse are set to merge today. The Suncoast Child Protection Team, which does medical evaluations of children who may have been abused, and the Exchange Center of the Suncoast for the Prevention of Child Abuse will sign papers today to become Help A Child Inc.

Patsy Buker, who will be executive director of the new agency, said the merger "gives us a more well-rounded perspective." For example, it will be easier for the staff members who perform medical evaluations of children to refer people to parenting classes designed to prevent future abuse.

John Sanguinette, who has directed the Exchange program and now will head a division of Help A Child, said the merger will allow the staff to consolidate administrations and focus more energy on helping parents and kids.

Seminole man faces computer porn charge

SEMINOLE -- Deputies say a Seminole man thought he was chatting sexually with a 15-year-old girl on the Internet, but he was actually communicating with an undercover detective.

Christopher Wayne Collett, 26, was arrested after driving to Tampa to meet with the "girl," according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Collett, of 5450 Bayshore Drive, Seminole was charged with computer pornography, the Sheriff's Office said.

Collett was arrested Thursday. In a separate case, a Jacksonville-area man was arrested Tuesday after traveling to Tampa under similar circumstances -- except he thought he was meeting a 15-year-old boy, the Sheriff's Office said.

Gulfport man accused of molesting girl

GULFPORT -- A 23-year-old Gulfport man was arrested Tuesday, nearly a week after a father arrived home to discover the man with his 14-year-old daughter, police said.

Albert Roy Heibert of 5220 14th Ave. S was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation on a person under 16, police said.

Gulfport police detectives had been trying to question Heibert for several days, but Heibert avoided them, police said.

On June 13, a father found a strange man with his daughter. The man fled from the home, and police later identified Heibert as a suspect. They got a warrant for his arrest Monday and found him staying at a Gulfport residence Tuesday morning.

He was held Tuesday in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Captain charged in fatal wreck faces court-martial

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- An Army captain accused of killing a Riverview woman while he was driving drunk will face a court-martial, military officials said Tuesday.

Capt. Joseph Piotrowski, 43, stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, was arrested by Hillsborough County deputies after the April 18 accident. Authorities said Piotrowski had an open container of alcohol in his car when he ran a stop sign at Riverview Drive and Providence Road, hitting another car driven by Angela Beasley.

The pregnant 24-year-old died in the crash. The Hillsborough County State Attorney's office ceded jurisdiction in all three cases to the U.S. Army in April.

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