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By Times staff writers
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 2000
Driver of white van may be accident witness
TAMPA -- The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is looking for the driver of a white van who may have witnessed a traffic accident Tuesday that killed a young mother pushing a baby stroller.
Michele Lee Calta, 26, who lived on Branch Mooring Drive, was struck and killed by a car as she strolled along her street with her 1-month-old daughter just before 1 p.m.
The accident occurred in the Countryway subdivision, west of Town 'N Country.
A neighbor, Richard David Delrio, 17, was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse that struck Calta, officials said.
The baby survived. Detectives say the van may have been on Branch Mooring Drive just before the accident. The van had a logo of some kind on the side. Delrio has not been charged. Deputies continue to investigate.
Anyone with information about the van, or who may have received a delivery or service repair in the area of the Point, is asked to call Deputy Dwaine Parker at (813) 247-0332.
TAMPA -- A 47-year-old man has died after being struck by a van while riding his bicycle in South Tampa.
William David Cox, of 4204 Bayview Ave., was seriously injured after the collision Tuesday night at the intersection of S Dale Mabry Highway and Bay Vista Avenue.
Police said Cox was riding his bicycle on W Bay Vista about 7 p.m. when he tried to cross Dale Mabry. At the same time, a 2000 Dodge van was southbound on Dale Mabry with a green light, police said, and Cox rode into its path.
He was taken to Tampa General Hospital with massive head and abdominal injuries. He died early Wednesday.
TAMPA -- Andrew J. Krishak admitted in court Wednesday that he was part of a "classic Ponzi scheme" that bilked victims out of millions of dollars.
Krishak, 49, one of the seven senior officials from Greater Ministries International arrested last year, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and to transport property by fraud across state lines. As part of the plea agreement, federal authorities agreed to drop 16 other counts.
He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
"The defendant and the other conspirators solicited funds primarily from the Christian community," according to the plea agreement. "They obtained investors from almost every state in the Union."
The double-your-money program was operated by the defendants from March 1993 through January 1999 at the church at 715 Bird St. near the Tampa Greyhound Track. It also was known as the "Double Your Blessing Gift Exchange" and the "Faith Promises Program," authorities said.
LARGO -- A veteran detention officer at the Pinellas County Jail was arrested Thursday morning after authorities said they captured him on video performing oral sex on a male inmate, authorities said.
The officer, Scott Robert Bartoszak, 38, was arrested when he reported for work and was charged with sexual battery. He resigned when authorities showed him the video and was being held at the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, sheriff's officials said.
The inmate had complained about the officer.
Sheriff Everett Rice said his office is investigating whether similar crimes occurred with other inmates, but no other complaints about Bartoszak have been lodged. Officials said this was the first time a detention officer has been charged with sexually battering an inmate.
After the inmate filed written complaints against Bartoszak, sheriff's authorities put a camera in the inmate's cell.
Shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday, the camera recorded Bartoszak performing oral sex on the inmate. The inmate didn't put up a fight but the action was against his will, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Cal Dennie said.
PINELLAS PARK -- The owner of a Pinellas Park auto sales lot was arrested Thursday on charges that he collected nearly $19,000 in sales taxes from customers but never paid the taxes to the state.
Carl E. Mann, 35, the sole proprietor of C&D Automotive at 4635 73rd Ave. N, was charged with theft of state funds, according to the Florida Department of Revenue. If convicted, Mann faces up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and would be required to pay the taxes.
Revenue Department investigators said Mann collected sales tax from all his customers but never filed sales tax returns from 1996 to this year. He was being held Thursday in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail.
TAMPA -- Tampa Crossroads has agreed to move sexual offenders out of the Ybor Heights halfway house it runs next to a day care center by Feb. 1, City Council members were told Thursday.
The move aims to quell the controversy sparked by the discovery by neighbors in recent months that a registered sexual predator and two sexual offenders live in the house on E 29th Avenue.
Thom Snelling, the city's land development coordinator, said Tampa Crossroads, a non-profit agency housing about 50 people in Hillsborough and Pinellas, will move the Ybor Heights sex offenders voluntarily.
TAMPA -- TECO Energy has donated $250,000 to the Lowry Park Zoo for construction of an amphitheater for visitors to learn about and watch manatees.
Construction is expected to begin this month and be completed in 2001. The amphitheater will be adjacent to one of the zoo's two underwater manatee viewing pools.
In addition to the amphitheater, TECO Energy said it plans to help the zoo develop a volunteer education program at the TECO Energy Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach.
Federal investigators have issued a final report declaring they found no environmental contamination causing employee health problems at Equifax Payment Services in St. Petersburg.
Employees complained to federal officials in March that workers in the building at 11601 Roosevelt Blvd. had suffered mysterious hair loss, along with a variety of other possible ailments. One complaint letter said four women "are totally bald and wearing wigs."
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent in experts to take samples from the 300,000-square-foot building, and a team of experts from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health spent two days combing the building for clues and interviewing employees with potential health problems.
In their final report, issued this week, the NIOSH investigators wrote that "there is no evidence that the hair loss/thinning reported by Equifax employees is related to an occupational exposure at Equifax."
TAMPA -- In an effort to cope with the drought, the Southwest Florida Water Management District on Tuesday authorized Tampa Bay Water to pump 15-million gallons per day until January from the Morris Bridge Road sinkhole.
The sinkhole is about 100 feet wide and 200 feet deep. In May, pumping was approved there but suspended when the water supply at the Hillsborough River appeared to be rising. It has since fallen.
The Hillsborough County Water Resources Team will hold a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss coping with the water shortage. The meeting is in the 26th floor conference room of the County Center at 601 E Kennedy Blvd.
CRYSTAL RIVER -- The wife of a Cessna pilot killed in a collision with an F-16 fighter plane over Manatee County earlier this month has filed wrongful death claims against the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The claims allege "illegal airspeed and altitude" of the F-16 and a failure by FAA air traffic controllers to prevent the Nov. 16 crash.
Danielle Olivier, 50, of Citrus County, is seeking up to $10-million in the death of her husband, 57-year-old Jacques Olivier.
The Air Force and the FAA, both of which declined to comment, have six months to investigate the charges. Olivier will file suit if a settlement is not reached by that time, said her attorney, Howard C. Coker of Jacksonville.
Radar data indicates the military planes were traveling faster than 480 mph before one of them struck Olivier's plane. Aircraft below 10,000 feet are limited to 300 mph unless they are in a special military area, which the F-16s were not.
A preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board stated that the lead pilot tried unsuccessfully to contact approach controllers at Tampa International Airport.
The controllers were in contact with the Cessna and might have been able to keep the planes apart.
Despite a Clearwater philanthropist's pleas that her son not be sent to jail, an Iowa judge has sentenced Peter Hunter to 10 years in prison for plotting to harm or kill members of his family.
Even though Hunter was accused of placing his mother and brothers on a hit list, Carolyn Hunter asked District Judge D.J. Stovall to keep her son out of prison and instead put him in a treatment program. Peter Hunter, 50, has bipolar disorder.
But Stovall opted for the maximum penalty available under Hunter's plea agreement. Hunter, who spent several weeks in a Dallas mental health facility before his sentencing last week, will continue to receive treatment for bipolar disorder.
Hunter was originally charged with 16 felonies in October 1999 after Des Moines, Iowa, police said he hired a hit man to kill or injure his three younger brothers, his mother and the family accountant.