Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

A registered sex offender was arrested Saturday at a St. Petersburg Wal-Mart. Hugh William Thompson was charged with felony battery, violation of probation, prowling and loitering. The 39-year-old was in a Wal-Mart superstore following teenage girls and women while zipping and unzipping his pants according to a story on TampaBay.com and police reports.

The registered sex offender spent 30 minutes in the store walking past young women while unzipping his pants. He appeared to be waiting with his pants unzipped for the women to turn around. Police also have accused Thompson of touching a 16-year-old girl in an inappropriate manner. He is in jail in Pinellas County.

Continue reading "Registered Sex Offender Under Arrest For Unzipping His Pants In Front Of Women At St. Pete Wal-Mart" »

A 19-year-old man with prior arrests in Hillsborough County is in trouble once again. Warrants have been issued for a 19-year-old who is accused of raping and kidnapping a 20-year-old Hillsborough County woman. Donovan Nicholas Hall allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home, kidnapped her, raped her twice and then forced her to go to lunch with him.

Hall has been arrested on charges of grand theft, marijuana possession and burglary previously in Hillsborough County. Hall is now facing charges of armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping and armed burglary according to a story on TampaBay.com. Hall is on the run after his reported victim called her father from a borrowed cell phone at the restaurant where the two were eating lunch.

Continue reading "Tampa Teen Accused Of Raping His Ex-Girlfriend And Forcing Her To Go To Lunch With Him" »

Ten years ago a 16-year-old girl who was lost in St. Petersburg was lured into the home of a man who beat and raped her. According to the St. Petersburg Times, police have made an arrest in the case a decade later thanks to technology. A DNA hit led the police to the rapist and MySpace led them to his current location. Now 39-year-old Elliot Mack has been booked into Pinellas County Jail on charges of sexual battery.

Mack has a Florida arrest record dating back to 1990 according to the story but he never submitted a DNA sample until 2006 when he was arrested on burglary charges in Okaloosa County. In January 2007 his DNA went into the state database and 18 months later police in Pinellas County were alerted to the match. After the victim picked Mack out of a photo line-up, police tracked the alleged rapist to Texas through his MySpace page.

Continue reading "Police Make Arrest In 1999 St. Petersburg Rape Case Using DNA and MySpace" »

Gaylyn Batty was arrested following an Ybor City attack early Sunday morning in which he is accused of trying to rape a woman who accepted his offer for a ride home. Batty was charged with sexual battery by Tampa police. When the local news told the story and showed his mug shot another woman called authorities saying Batty tried to rape her as well, according to a story on TampaBay.com.

The woman said she met Batty a few times and invited him to her house. When they arrived Batty forced himself on the woman. She was able to escape and reported the attack to police but did not know her attackers full name until she saw the news report. Batty is now looking at additional battery charges following the latest accusations.

Continue reading "Man Arrested For Sexual Battery In Ybor City Attack Accused By Another Woman Following TV Report" »

As we see on so many occasions here in Tampa Bay and throughout the state of Florida, what seems like an innocent traffic stop leads to more serious charges once the traffic stop is made. That exact situation took place in Sebring, Florida to Gerardo Matos. Matos was speeding, driving 51 M.P.H. in a 45, and that led to the stop.

Once Matos was pulled over sheriff’s deputies discovered he did not have a valid driver’s license. The background check also showed that the 26-year-old was a sex offender who was not registered as required. Matos, a former resident of Connecticut, was taken to Highlands County jail and released on $35,250 bond. Failing to register as a sex offender is a third-degree felony according to the story on TBO.com.

If you have been pulled over for a traffic violation and then charged with a crime in Tampa or Hillsborough County and need agressive legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourCase.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email or by stopping in any of our four offices located in Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota or Orlando.

Derrick Faircloth, a 39-year-old Bradenton man, was not supposed to leave the state as he waited to be tried on charges he drugged young girls at parties in order to have sex with them. Since being charged with lewd and lascivious molestation, sexual battery, delivering a controlled substance to a minor and introduction of obscene materials to a minor, police continued to investigate Faircloth and issued another warrant charging him with 49 counts of child pornography.

Yesterday authorities in Wayne County Indiana pulled over a car driven by Faircloth and found the outstanding warrant. He was placed under arrest and is still being held in Indiana as he awaits extradition according to a report on TBO.com that sites a Richmond, Ind. Station. The girls Faircloth is accused of drugging and having sex with were 14, 16 and 17 years old.

If you have been charged with a crime in Bradenton, Sarasota or Manatee County and are in need of aggressive legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact Criminal Defense Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourFelony.com to discuss the matter. Also you can contact Darren via email or by stopping in our Sarasota offices located at 200 N. Washington Blvd.

Jerry Foster, a 59-year-old group home employee, is under arrest for allegedly sending inappropriate, sexual messages via email, cell phone and chat rooms to a 15-year-old Pinellas County teenage girl. In a story on TampaBay.com, deputies from Pinellas and Oviedo coordinated the arrest of Foster who posed as a 20-year-old while communicating with the girl.

Foster works in a group home for teen boys called Laurel Hill and he became the target of an investigation after the teen's mother heard inappropriate voice mails left for her daughter by what sounded to her like an older man. Detectives then discovered explicit chat room logs from Foster to the young girl. At that point they set up a sting and allege they had Foster sending more sexually explicit chat messages to who he thought was the teenager.

If you have been charged with a sex crime in St. Petersburg or Pinellas County please do not hesitate to contact Criminal Defense Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourPinellasArrest.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email or by stopping in our Clearwater office located at 4500 140th Ave. North #203.

A Volusia County beach patrol officer was arrested while on-duty for alleged sexual contact with an underage girl as reported by the Bradenton Herald on their website. Robert Tameris, 44-years-old, is accused of beginning a sexual relationship with a girl who he met while she was sunbathing at the beach. The girl’s age was reported to be 16 at the time they met.

According to reports, the two began a sexual relationship in 2007 and the officer is alleged to have recorded the pair having sex without the girl’s knowledge. Investigators set up a call between Tameris and the girl in which he reportedly acknowledges the sexual relationship. He was charged with unlawful sex with a minor.

If you have been charged with a sex crime in central Florida and need qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact Criminal Defense Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourFelony.com. Also you can contact Darren via email or by stopping in any of our four central Florida office locations.