Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff reports

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 10, 2001

Pasco man dies in head-on collision

PLANT CITY -- A Pasco County man drove his car head-on into a truck early Friday morning and died at the scene, authorities said.

James Gray, 31, of 39615 Covey Ave., Crystal Springs, was driving north on State Road 39 about 4 a.m. when he drove across the yellow line into the path of the truck, deputies said.

The truck was driven by John McCloy, 52, of 68526 23rd St., Zephyrhills. McCloy was taken to South Florida Baptist Hospital and treated for minor injuries.

No charges were filed.

Man convicted again in double slaying

TAMPA -- After winning a new trial on murder charges this year, former pool hall worker James Acker was convicted by a jury for the second time Friday for a double slaying in 1991.

Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett sentenced Acker, 37, to life in prison followed by 22 years in prison. At his first trial in 1992, Acker had been sentenced to two life terms.

On Friday, the jury found Acker guilty of first-degree and second-degree murder for killing Brandon Snider, 27, and Robert Carter, 28, in their home at the Cambridge Woods Apartments near the University of South Florida.

Prosecutors said Acker sought revenge after Snider threatened Acker's sister, an ex-girlfriend of Snider's.

Tampa man charged with child porn

TAMPA -- Authorities said Friday they had seized child pornography and a computer from a man in Lutz and charged him with 27 counts of distributing child pornography.

Sheriff's deputies said Zachariah Salak, 18, of 1904 Rebecca Road, distributed child porn on the Internet. Deputies working with the FBI searched Salak's home Friday. He was being held in jail Friday on $202,500 bail.

Police charge Tampa man in shooting

TAMPA -- Police have charged a 22-year-old Tampa man with a shooting that left a man in critical condition.

The victim, Shannon Curtis, 33, of Oakgrove, La., was found in his Chevrolet Lumina at the corner of 22nd Street and E 15th Avenue on Oct. 28.

Curtis was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Police said Curtis and a woman had stopped at the intersection and were talking when Demetrius Walker walked up and confronted Curtis. Walker took out a handgun and shot Curtis once in the head, authorities said.

Walker fled, and on Friday detectives obtained a warrant charging him with attempted murder. Walker, who told police his address is 2502 15th Ave. E, turned himself in Friday.

Walker was being held Friday in jail on $100,000 bail.

St. Petersburg lays off parking guru

ST. PETERSBURG -- Former traffic and transportation director Angelo Rao, who championed the pay parking stations that confounded motorists, has been laid off as part of a plan to adjust the city's budget for a recession.

Rao is one of just three people whom city executives have let go to help save $1.53-million expected to be lost because of declining revenue from sales and tourist taxes, as well as higher costs for insurance.

Rao was at the center of the one decision former Mayor David Fischer has said he would take back if he could. At Rao's behest, the city bought 225 French-made Schlumberger pay stations in 1997, thinking the government could cash in by charging up to $10 a space for street parking during Tampa Bay Devil Rays games.

The crowds were lighter than expected, and people couldn't figure out how to use what essentially was an overgrown parking meter designed to serve several spaces. Motorists had to walk as far as a block and had difficulty using the meters.

Before leaving office, Fischer stripped Rao of the bulk of his responsibility in the city as transportation and parking services director.

The pay stations cost the city $1.56-million, enough to cover the round of budget cuts that included Rao's job.

Teen charged with DUI manslaughter in crash

ST. PETERSBURG -- An 18-year-old St. Petersburg man has been arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter after a car accident that killed his uncle. Daniel Kelly Smith of 829 21st Ave. N also was driving with a suspended driver's license at the time of the Oct. 6 crash, said Officer Mike Jockers.

Smith, who works at J&K Electric, was behind the wheel of a 1995 Pontiac Firebird at 2:24 a.m. when he lost control and crashed into a drainage ditch.

His uncle, Brady Smith, 34, was sitting in the passenger seat. He was killed.

Police said Daniel Smith had a blood-alcohol level of 0.162, twice the level at which Florida law presumes a motorist to be impaired. He was released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting bail.

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