ST. PETERSBURG -- Police think they've got the man who killed Richard Adams -- whose street name was "Richie Rich" -- in a drug deal that turned deadly. Now they're looking for a witness who may not even know he's a witness.

Adams, 35, was shot to death May 30, only 10 days after he got out of prison. His body was found behind a vacant building.

St. Petersburg detectives think Adams was shot because he sold a man fake crack cocaine. They think the angry customer was Jason Harris, 21, who is charged with first-degree murder in Adams' death.

Harris was recently arrested on other charges in North Carolina is awaiting extradition to Florida.

Investigators think Adams sold Harris bogus drugs, and the two men argued. Witnesses say Harris was in a newer-model white Ford Taurus with a man known only as "George."

"George was there during the argument and was dropped off shortly thereafter," said homicide Detective Gary Gibson.

Police think Harris then borrowed the Taurus from George, went looking for Adams, found him and shot him.

Police think he then returned the car to George, Gibson said.

Police think their unidentified witness lives or works in Hillsborough County and works at a car dealership or car rental agency where he has access to plenty of newer-model cars.

Witnesses described George as a white, his 40s, 5-feet-8 to 5-feet-9, weighing at least 280 pounds. He was accompanied by a slender white woman in her late 30s.

Judge: Prosecutors can use secret Aisenberg tapes

TAMPA -- A circuit judge ruled Tuesday that federal prosecutors are free to use secretly recorded conversations of Steven and Marlene Aisenberg in the government's case against the couple.

But the ruling by Chief Judge F. Dennis Alvarez does not necessarily mean a jury will hear the tapes. It'll be up to a federal judge to decide whether the tapes are sufficiently audible to be presented to jurors as evidence.

The Aisenbergs are accused of lying about the disappearance of their 5-month-old daughter, Sabrina, in 1997. The child has never been found.

Prosecutors say the tapes clearly show that Steven Aisenberg harmed his daughter and Marlene Aisenberg helped to cover it up. Defense attorneys allege the tapes are too garbled to be used at trial.

Under state law, the government was required to seek a judge's permission before using the tapes.

Associate of royalty sentenced for bank fraud

TAMPA -- A Canadian businessman was senteced to five years in a Florida prison Tuesday for his part in fraud scheme that involved area banks, the Tampa Bay Lightning and British royalty.

The sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge William J. Castagna, also ordered Carroll R. Tessier, 48, to pay $51,000 in resitution. After his April 10 conviction, Castagna had ordered that Tessier, who avoided trial in 1996 by fleeing the country, be held in jail until sentencing.

Tessier's cohorts in the fraud scheme, which included the 12th Duke of Manchester Angus Charles Drogo Montagu, were tried in 1996. Federal prosecutors charged that they lied about their European assets in order to get financing from Barnett Bank and First Union National Bank in Tampa to build an arena for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1991.

In his trial this spring, Tessier denied all wrongdoing and blamed former Lightning executives for his group's failure to come up with financing.

Rising enrollment causes crowding in some schools

TAMPA -- School enrollment has been higher than expected this year, leaving classrooms packed and the district scrambling to minimize crowding.

Where there were 153,299 students on the fifth day of school last year, there were 157,510 students on the fifth day this year. The district projects that on the 20th day of school this year there will still be 4,797 more students enrolled than last year.

While the district opened four new schools this year, the enrollment increase has left classroom space at a premium. At a School Board meeting Tuesday night, school officials said they would look for ways to lessen crowding.

School officials also stressed that they hope to see parents at a series of community meetings where school officials will listen to them about the proposed desegregation plan.

The school district has proposed a school choice system that will allow parents to choose from several schools and, officials hope, lessen racial imbalances.

The first of 14 meetings will be next week.

Pedestrian is killed trying to cross U.S. 19

CLEARWATER -- A man trying to cross U.S. 19 late Monday died after he was hit by a car near Old Coachman Road.

Investigators think the 42-year-old man is from Central Florida. He was in Clearwater to work on a construction project, but his identity was not released Tuesday because his relatives had not been notified, said Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor.

The accident happened at 10:30 p.m., just south of Old Coachman Road, also known as State Road 590.

Shelor said the man tried to walk west across the southbound lanes of U.S. 19 in the 2200 block.

"We believe alcohol was involved in this," he said. "We suspect he was impaired because not only had he imbibed before the accident, he was carrying beer when the accident occurred."

The man got to the middle southbound lane and walked into the path of a 1999 Nissan Pathfinder, Shelor said. The sport utility vehicle was driven by 43-year-old Cheryl Davenport, whose address was unavailable Tuesday.

The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the second pedestrian killed this year in Clearwater. Last year, 10 pedestrians died in traffic accidents.

The investigation is continuing, and no charges were filed.

Part of the investigation involves street lights in the immediate area. Shelor said seven of 10 lights there were not working at the time of the accident. But it had not been determined whether inadequate lighting played a role in the accident.

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