Authorities arrested a man they say broke into a Palm Harbor home early Friday and raped a 57-year-old woman. ...more

July 26, 2008

A Palm Harbor man was arrested several hours after he bound a woman's hands and sexually battered her Friday, Pinellas County deputies say. ...more

July 25, 2008

man who was tried on a rape charge this week was sentenced to prison today. Just not for rape. A jury deliberated two hours before finding Steven Vanwart not guilty of sexual battery, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. The 42-month prison sentence came as a result of Vanwart's no contest plea to an identity theft charge. Vanwart, 42, entered the plea Friday while the jury was deliberating the rape charges. Keeping the identity theft charge separate meant jurors considering the rape charges didn't hear some evidence. Among the evidence kept from the panel were booklets investigators found when they searched Vanwart's travel trailer. Among the titles were "Vanishing Point, How to Disappear in America Without a Trace" and "How to Get Lost — and Stay that Way," records show. ...more

July 25, 2008

After Darrel Engram was arrested Monday on charges of making an unlawful pawn transaction, police say he told them how he got the purloined property. ...more

July 24, 2008

On the first day of trial Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from a 19-year-old woman who says Steven Vanwart, an acquaintance, raped her while she was pregnant last year. ...more

July 24, 2008

Steven Anthony Vanwart of Land O' Lakes is accused of raping an 18-year-old girl who was four months pregnant. ...more

July 23, 2008

After Darrel Engram was arrested Monday on charges of making an unlawful pawn transaction, police say he told them how he got the purloined property. He set up his cousin, according to an affidavit, who was the victim of an armed home invasion four days earlier. ...more

July 23, 2008

Deputies say a man was beaten unconscious Saturday by a robber. The robbery occurred about 2:30 p.m. outside 16129 Wilson Blvd. and authorities point to John Kopasz as the perpetrator. ...more

July 22, 2008

Police say a registered sex offender from Georgia said he killed a 13-year-old girl whose body was discovered by a maid in a hotel room. ...more

July 12, 2008

TAMPA - Clyde Jerome Lewis and another man entered a hotel room without permission and forced a woman inside to perform a sex act on each of them while they held a man at gunpoint, Tampa police say. ...more

July 11, 2008