MIAMI -- A former Miami city finance director who wore a wire to snare more powerful figures in a sweeping public corruption probe surrendered Friday on a federal indictment after the collapse of a 4-year-old plea bargain.

Manohar Surana, 56, would face 55 years in prison if convicted of extorting city vendor Unisys Corp., bribery, money laundering and conspiracy in the four-count indictment issued under seal Nov. 30. His son, Pamit, 29, also was charged with laundering and conspiracy.

A prosecutor with no previous connection to the case built a new one on evidence gathered apart from Surana's cooperation to avoid legal issues about whether the government broke its earlier promise of immunity, U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis said. Arraignment was set for Friday.

Mother guilty of trying to kill her three children

WEST PALM BEACH -- A distraught woman who put her three children in her automobile and pumped in tailpipe exhaust was convicted of attempted murder Thursday.

Patricia Kelly, 29, could get up to 90 years in prison.

Prosecutors said she tried to kill herself and the children -- now 8, 6 and 1 -- last December because her husband had filed for divorce after she had an affair with a 17-year-old neighbor. Kelly believed she would lose her children, officials said.

Kelly forced the two oldest children to take prescription drugs, then put all three into her sport utility vehicle, drove them to a park and used a garden hose to pump in exhaust. Her plan failed when the hose melted, prosecutors said.

Inmate held in murder drinks hair remover, dies

OCALA -- An inmate held on charges of first-degree murder died after ingesting a hair removal product, hospital officials said.

Harry Rocker Jr., 27, died about 3 a.m. Thursday at Munroe Regional Medical Center.

Rocker drank a mixture of a shaving powder and water Tuesday night in an apparent suicide, according to Marion County sheriff's investigators.

Rocker had been unconscious since late Tuesday, said the Rev. James Sykes, a spokesman for Rocker's family.

Rocker was indicted in the March 21 murder of Francis Hook, manager of a Discount Auto Parts store, during a robbery.

State Attorney John Moore had filed motions to seek the death penalty against Rocker.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Pogue said Rocker mixed the hair removal product, called Magic, with water and drank it shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

He said Rocker's esophagus was severely burned.

Police: Molester violated probation during parade

HOLLY HILL -- A 63-year-old man with a history of sexual offenses has been charged with violating his probation by dressing as a clown and fondling young girls at a Christmas parade, police said.

Norman Edward Rose was arrested Wednesday night at his home after Holly Hill police reported seeing him along the parade route on a scooter wearing a clown costume and approaching 6- to 7-year-old girls without supervision, a violation of his probation.

Police reports said officers saw Rose, whose police alias is "Klumpy the Clown," using feathers or a feather duster to inappropriately touch the girls during the parade Saturday. One of the officers told him to stop after one incident.

Later, some other officers at the parade vaguely remembered that Rose had been known to wear clown costumes, the reports said.

Parade organizers noted that Rose was not part of the event.

Rose was being held in the Volusia County Jail without bond. He is listed on the state registry for sexual predators. In 1995, Rose pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious assault on children in Ormond Beach in 1987 and 1988. He was sentenced to 51/2 years in prison and 91/2 years of probation. State prison records showed he was released in 1997 and had been under supervised probation.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk