Pasco County deputies and detectives, aided by a drug-sniffing dog, found 85 pounds of marijuana in a car that was stopped because of an improperly attached license plate, the sheriff's office reported today. The driver, Jose-Juan Carlos Castro-Ramirez, 29, of Lacoochee, was arrested on a charge of trafficking marijuana. He is being held in the Land O' Lakes Jail with bail set at $50,000. Castro-Ramirez was driving a 1997 Saturn near Old Lakeland Highway and Stewart Road south of Dade City when he was pulled over at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday by the sheriff's office's Street Tactical Operations and Patrol, a report said. ...more

October 23, 2008

Authorities say a Spring Hill man raped a 17-year-old girl while she was incapacitated by prescription painkillers. ...more

October 23, 2008

Allen J. Crotzer, the former St. Petersburg resident who spent 24 years in prison for crimes he did not commit, got a fresh start Tuesday when the state cleared his record of two unrelated convictions. ...more

October 22, 2008

St. Petersburg police said it arrested 28 people today after a monthlong street-level drug operation. ...more

October 17, 2008

Three Bradenton men drove a pickup into Ruskin with more than 400 grams of cocaine Saturday night, Hillsborough County deputies say. ...more

October 13, 2008

Charges against Nathan Edward McRenoylds increased to second-degree murder after the man he shot Saturday night died Sunday at Tampa General Hospital, authorities say. ...more

October 6, 2008

A man who drove away from his Valrico home Saturday night after a drug deal turned violent was found Sunday morning in a Tampa motel, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. ...more

October 5, 2008

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting that occurred this evening in the driveway of 507 Murcott Place in Valrico. ...more

October 4, 2008

Mickey Bearden wasn't sure whether or not he had struck something while driving along St. Joe Road on Thursday evening, so he didn't bother to stop, a Florida Highway Patrol report says. Unfortunately for pedestrian Michael Weiss, 41, of Dade City, Bearden, 24, had indeed hit something. Records said Weiss suffered serious injuries and taken to Tampa General Hospital after being hit by Bearden's 2009 two-door Toyota near 23rd Street. After leaving the scene, Bearden was arrested at a gas station near 21st Street, records said. He was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, but more charges are possible after toxicology tests are completed, the highway patrol said. ...more

October 3, 2008

Super Chicken strutted a step closer to the dinner table Thursday. The government said it will start considering proposals to sell genetically engineered animals as food, a move that could lead to faster-growing fish, cattle that can resist mad cow disease or perhaps heart-healthier eggs laid by a new breed of chickens. ...more

September 19, 2008