VENICE -- Residents' belongings at an upscale retirement home will be protected by a private security firm -- hired after the head of security was charged with stealing from wealthy residents after their deaths.

Wackenhut Corp. will take charge of resident rooms at Village on the Isle when they die or move, said Michael Hartley, president of the home's board of trustees.

Hartley hopes hiring Wackenhut will allay residents' concerns and help restore the confidence of their families.

Wackenhut was hired in the wake of the arrest Thursday of Joe Allen, head of security at the home.

Police said they have evidence that for the last nine years, the rooms of village residents who died were systematically looted.

Employees had shopping lists of items to take from the deceased and targeted residents who had no family or whose children lived out-of-state, said Venice police Detective Sgt. Mike Treanor.

Deputy fired after mistake is blamed in jail hanging

SHALIMAR -- A rookie Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy has resigned after being told he would be fired for failing to take away the belt of a drunken driving suspect who then used it to hang himself in a holding cell.

Carlos Ilarraza, 48, was a day shy of completing a yearlong probationary period when he was informed that his job would end with the probation, sheriff's spokesman Rick Hord said Monday.

Ilarraza was on duty Oct. 24 when Air Force Tech. Sgt. Carl Schmidt III, 41, committed suicide in the holding cell while awaiting a trip to the county jail in Crestview.

"They are routinely supposed to take the shoes, the belt and empty the pants pockets," Hord said. "He just wasn't paying close enough attention."

Ilarraza, a former Air Force police officer, declined to comment.

Schmidt, stationed at nearby Hurlburt Field where he was a flight engineer, had been in the Air Force for 20 years and was a Persian Gulf War veteran.

Judge lets suit over use of old state seal continue

TALLAHASSEE -- A judge has given the go-ahead for Democrats to sue Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican Party of Florida over a claim of misuse of the state seal for political or campaign purposes.

Circuit Judge Terry Lewis refused to dismiss the complaint over a brochure urging Republicans to vote early by absentee ballot. It includes a letter from Bush printed over an image of what once was -- but is no longer -- the official state seal.

Absentee ballots sent out in response to the brochure should not be counted, Democrats contend. They also want the judge to halt the mailing and order Bush to apologize to all Floridians.

A hearing is set for Thursday.

Circuit judge is named 5th District appeals judge

TALLAHASSEE -- Circuit Judge Richard Orfinger of Ormond Beach was named by Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday to the 5th District Court of Appeal, filling a vacancy created when Judge James C. Danksch Jr. resigned.

Orfinger, 48, has been a circuit judge since 1991 in a district that includes Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties. The 5th DCA covers Brevard, Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter and Volusia counties.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk