Local News - St. Petersburg Times

MADEIRA BEACH -- Dale Roberts thought his new pistol wasn't working properly, Pinellas deputies say, so he decided to test it. Around 2:45 a.m. on Saturday Roberts, in jest, pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, deputies...

PALM HARBOR -- Deputies have arrested a man suspected of slipping into the home of a 57-year-old Palm Harbor woman around 2 a.m. Friday through an unlocked door, binding her hands, beating and kicking her in the face with enough...

SEMINOLE -- The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding a Seminole teenager whose life may be threatened if she doesn't take daily medication. Kaci Kae Smith, 17, was last seen about 6 p.m. Wednesday...

DADE CITY -- Even Steven Van Wart admitted it didn't look good. He was 41 when he said he had consensual sex with a pregnant 18-year-old last year -- a woman half his age, whose wrists and ankles he tied...

PLANT CITY -- Police say they received a phone call overnight Friday from a frightened 7-year-old. She had a problem, she said: She couldn't find her mother. The mother, they say, had gone to a nearby bar -- a trip...

BROOKSVILLE -- A 25-year man was found dead at the bottom of an apartment complex swimming pool early Friday morning, hours after deputies had been called to the complex by residents complaining of a man causing a disturbance at the...

TAMPA -- A former teacher's aide, cleared of charges that she sexually abused a student, is suing the Tampa Police Department for violating her civil rights, claiming officials misrepresented the truth and cast her in a false light when discussing...

TAMPA -- Police today arrested a man they say killed his estranged wife's new boyfriend with a screwdriver. Alexander Miller, 34, of Tampa was picked up after a Hillsborough sheriff's deputy matched Miller's red Dodge Dakota pickup to one parked...

CLEARWATER -- Police have arrested the man they say is responsible for a recent string of video store robberies. Arrested was Shermon Andrae Allen (left), 30, of 4708 Mill Pond Lane in Tampa. Allen was charged with robbery (deadly weapon...

Tampa police are still investigating the scene of an overnight shooting between Chestnut Street W and Union Street W in Tampa. [Ken Helle, Times] TAMPA -- Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a convicted drug dealer at the North...

A 23-year-old Pinellas Park man faces charges this morning after authorities arrested him while investigating an overnight shooting. It started at 1:03 a.m., when police were called to 7231 Cedar Court N. Officers arrived to find Jose Luiz Hernandez-Monsqueda, 21,...

ST. PETERSBURG -- A stolen Jeep Cherokee speeding away from police slammed into a pickup truck on 34th Street N, seriously injuring two of the truck's occupants and both men inside the stolen SUV. Jonell Wilson, 18, and David Rogers,...

Homicide detectives in Pasco County are investigating what led to the death of a man in Hudson late Thursday, authorities said. Gerald Gillespie, 44, of 8723 Padget St., reportedly suffered unspecified, multiple wounds and was taken by a friend to...

WESLEY CHAPEL -- One suspect is in jail, and the search is on for a second man in connection with the 2006 double homicide of two Wesley Chapel teens in Trilby. The man still being sought is Luc Pierre-Charles, 20,...

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The Florida Highway Patrol has named a "person of interest" in the fatal hit-and-run crash that took the life of Marine reservist and Citrus County resident Nicholas Burns Jr. last month. Troopers want to find and...

PLANT CITY -- Florida Strawberry Festival queen hopefuls won't be strutting in swimsuits next year. Pageant officials decided today to ditch the swimsuits in favor of a casual wear contest. Officials have also raised the grade-point average requirement to 3.0...

CLEARWATER -- In less than four minutes, illusionist Criss Angel will remove the stainless-steel, police-issued Smith & Wesson handcuffs, pick locks on two doors, climb three flights of stairs, then grab a ladder hanging from a helicopter that will whisk...

[Times photo | James Borchuck] Joe Rosa, president of the Independent Taxi Co., answers questions Thursday about putting cameras into cabs in the wake of St. Petersburg's recent surge in robberies of cab drivers. The St. Petersburg Police Department will...

TAMPA -- A man who pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle a box cutter in a book through Tampa International Airport security was sentenced today in federal court to a year's probation. Benjamin Baines Jr., 22, of Largo, faced up...